The Lithuanian Government will no longer provide free tuition for Ukrainian refugees – although some universities have vowed to fund Ukrainian students’ higher education themselves.
“We organise all aid measures for Ukrainian citizens living in Lithuania in response to the needs of the Ukrainian State, in co-operation, without encouraging brain drain from Ukraine,” the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports said, according to The Baltic News Service on July 15.
The Lithuanian authorities specified that they will continue to compensate the tuition fees of Ukrainian students who had already entered the country’s higher education before September but would no longer provide that for newly arrived Ukrainians.
Following the government’s decision, some universities have decided to continue the tuition-fees exemption, including Vilnius College in the Lithuanian capital.
The college will fully finance studies for all its Ukrainians students with its own funding and promised to admit 25 new students.
Lina Bivainienė, spokeswoman for Vilnius College, said that would give “young people the opportunity to get a higher education, our university can help the citizens of Ukraine who are suffering from the war”.
Tuition fees are not the only changes to be expected regarding Ukrainians seeking to study in Lithuania.
In addition, according to the Lithuanian National Information and Support Center for International Students, Ukrainian citizens who apply for undergraduate, short-term and full-time programmes and for State-funded studies, will be subject to the same general admission procedure as Lithuanians.
From September 2024 onwards, there will be no separate quotas for Ukrainians, who will be admitted to Lithuania’s higher education institutions under the same procedure as its own citizens, with access to university programmes dependent on their application scores.
According to the education ministry, in 2023, Lithuania allocated €4.6 million to finance the studies of more than 1,000 Ukrainians.
