The results of Kubilius and Steponavičius’ “work”: the number of municipalities whose high school students are no longer able to study is increasing

 

Gintaras Sarafinas

 

“A huge stratification – this is how we can call the inequalities in the Lithuanian study picture.

 

Currently, there are 30 higher education institutions in Lithuania. There are many, so the competition between them is enormous, and the number of young people in our country is constantly decreasing. Nowadays, it is incredibly easy to enroll in a college or university, because everyone who expresses a desire to study is welcome. And although in theory they try to create some kind of qualitative barriers, in practice even weak high school students have no particular difficulty to enter higher education institutions.

 

But this is certainly not the case in all sectors. There are areas where fewer applicants apply than the state allocates state-funded study places (this is especially true of natural sciences or engineering study programs), but at the same time there are also such study fields where the competitions are huge, admission is especially difficult, and those who have received a state-funded study place are considered lucky babies. We are talking about prestigious study programs here.

 

So, nowadays it is most difficult to enter state-funded study places in dentistry (because there are very few of them, and there are really many who want to). Next are medicine, biochemistry, biotechnology, life sciences, as well as study programs that train pilots. Competitions here are truly paranormal, and the entrance score often exceeds nine (to get into free places).

 

This is a big challenge for a young person. And even for very motivated people who want to study medicine, dentistry, or life sciences, it is not easy to realize this dream. It is especially difficult for young people from the regions. In fact, not only schools, but even municipalities are increasing in Lithuania, from which not a single graduate is able to enter medicine, dentistry, aeronautical engineering or other prestigious study programs.

 

For example, in 2020 In 2019, not a single young person from 9 municipalities enrolled in state-funded medical study places, and in 2023, from 14. Even from quite large municipalities: for example, Rokiškis or Jurbarkas districts. And from another 14 municipalities, only one graduate enrolled in a funded medical study place. Half of those enrolled in this direction are from Vilnius and Kaunas. And this is certainly not pleasant to hear for families from the regions. And not only for families, but also for local politicians and employers.

 

State-funded dentistry studies are even more inaccessible to young people from most regions. In 2020, young people from 15 municipalities managed to enter these studies, and in 2023, only from twelve (and among them, of course, metropolitan areas dominate). Let us remind you that there are 60 municipalities in total in Lithuania.

 

In the field of life sciences, there are significantly more state-funded study places – 324 – but we still have a lot of municipalities, that is, 9, from which not a single young person entered, and only one young person from another 15 municipalities entered.

 

Of course, perhaps we should not limit ourselves to biomedicine or life sciences, but even when talking about other prestigious studies, the picture is not very different. Especially where the largest entrance competitions are observed, and simply speaking, where it is most difficult to enter. There are more and more municipalities whose graduates no longer have access to state-funded places in aircraft control, Scandinavian studies, biotechnology, software systems, and sometimes even law.

 

For example, not a single young person from even 20 municipalities enrolled in aeronautical engineering, which is a third of all municipalities. There are a lot of state-funded places in the field of computer science – 1333 – and the state also encourages choosing these studies, but we still have 5 municipalities from which not a single young person has enrolled in this field or only one has enrolled.

 

“It is very sad that the accessibility of studies in Lithuania is uneven. The number of biologically gifted and talented children is distributed similarly in different regions of Lithuania, but according to the trends of admission to the most attractive study programs, significant differences and large gaps are visible between children from cities and regions.

 

In this way, we are simply losing talents and abusing children from regions,” comments economist Professor Romas Lazutka.

 

Blaming the young people themselves here is in no way possible. “It’s just that in some municipalities the general level of education has declined and graduates from some peripheral districts are no longer able to compete with their peers from big cities, who can study at the best schools in the country, attend tutors and move up the social mobility ladder significantly. So the conditions are becoming increasingly different. In addition, I notice that often in the regions the socio-cultural climate does not encourage people to strive for more, to have grand dreams, to strive to find themselves in highly competitive study programs,” says sociologist, demographer, professor at the Department of Sociology at VMU Aušra Maslauskaitė.

 

So what are the solutions? There are not very many: first, you can enroll in a paid place of study, but medical, biotechnology or aeronautical studies are really expensive and financially unaffordable for many families. Secondly, you can adjust your plans in the same field of study and choose pharmacy, public health or veterinary medicine instead of medicine (which some young people do, but, let’s face it, it’s not the same). Thirdly, you can swallow your bitterness and settle for smaller aspirations, for example, enroll in nursing instead of medicine (which many young people also do). But the resentment and dissatisfaction remain. Because such a young person’s choice is not determined by his talents and diligence, but simply by circumstances and place of residence.”

Where are the destroyers of our Lithuanian competitiveness now? Steponavičius has already been convicted of money problems. Kubilius has not yet, he is sleeping in Brussels.