IT and medicine have proved to be the most popular subject choices for Lithuanian students this year. With secondary school graduates having just submitted their applications for higher education studies, demand is highest in these two subject areas.
And according to one expert in the sector, the growth in popularity of IT is part of a long term shift away from social sciences amongst Lithuanian students. Professor Pranas Žiliukas, President of the Lithuanian Association of Higher Education Institutions for the Organisation of General Admissions (LAMA BPO) has noted that the appeal of social science subjects has been reducing steadily each year. By contrast, the popularity of tech based subjects and the sciences are growing.
The Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and Vilnius University were the most popular study destinations this year. For Software Engineering, courses offered by Kaunas University of Technology and Vilnius University were the top choices.
The growing popularity of IT studies comes on the back of a 50% increase in state funding for IT studies this year. This move was made in a bid to ensure Lithuania’s education system meets the present and future needs of the labour market, with the majority of higher education institutions increasing the number of places on their IT programmes as a result. With universities and colleges producing more highly-skilled IT professionals, hopes are high of further funding increases in the future.
Lithuania’s IT sector is growing rapidly, with numerous startups from the country achieving international success in recent years. The government’s funding increases have been designed to give further momentum to this trend and to pre-empt future market demands. They have also been made in response to the ever-growing interest foreign IT companies are showing in Lithuania as an investment location.
