Research ​

Experiences of the beginning of permanent studies of students from abroad at Vilnius University (VU) and Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) ​

The research was carried out between 5th of March, 2021, and 21st of March, 2021, in cooperation with the Students' Representative Office of Kaunas University of Technology. The aim of the study was to clarify the problems of students during the distance learning period and to find out the factors that complicate integration into the academic community. About 40% of students said that when they started studying, the University did not provide enough information on study-related issues. Only 23% of respondents said that they received help from the university in the face of a lack of subject knowledge at the beginning of their studies. The rest try to eliminate the lack of knowledge themselves. The study also revealed that up to 40% of students experience difficulties in understanding lecturers or believe that the subjects they study are prepared superficially. More about the study can be found here.

Full-time international students' experiences of arriving, studying, living in Lithuania: the perspective of students, experts and stakeholders ​

The survey was carried out between 1st of June, 2021, and 23rd of August, 2021, in order to find out the negative experiences of foreign students who came to study for the entire study period in Lithuania and the difficulties they face. The research revealed that these students have many negative experiences when coming to Lithuania, because they are not considered equivalent residents of the country, and integration (both cultural and university) must take care of themselves due to insufficient assistance from the University. The university is distinguished by two communities of studying: local and foreign students. They do not receive enough opportunities to communicate with each other, which leads to a clear separation between these communities, both in terms of information from the University and in terms of opportunities to join the activities carried out. The main problems for foreign students are related to the long and complicated migration process in Lithuania and the unequal health care system. More about the study can be found here.

Study of the conduct and quality assurance of student practices at and outside the University and beyond ​

The survey was carried out between 16th of August, 2021, and 24th of November, 2021. The aim of the research was to review the problems of organizing the practices of Lithuanian higher education students and to find out the possibilities and emerging difficulties in ensuring and supervising the quality of the practices performed by students. During the study, it turned out that the opportunities for cooperation with the higher education sector are not used in the places of practice, and only a small part of the students' practice is based on the introduction of new competences and solutions into the practice institution. It is also evident that in the course of the internship process too little attention is paid to the preparation of the student to perform the internship, and the assessment of the practice depends not on the nature of the tasks performed and the activity, but on the report, course or final thesis prepared by the student. Such an assessment may show not the practical, but theoretical knowledge of the subject acquired. More about the study can be found here.

Study of student scientific activities ​

The study was carried out between July and December in 2021. The aim of the research is to review the situation of students' scientific activities in Lithuanian universities and to identify why students are (not)involved in scientific activities, in what forms they can get involved and how this activity is observed in Lithuanian universities. The study showed that it is not possible to define exactly how many students are engaged in scientific activities and what measures should be taken to assess the situation due to the inaccurate definition of the concept of scientific activities of students. It is evident that students do not engage in scientific activities due to lack of time, lack of motivation or the attitude that they do not have sufficient knowledge of a particular field. Also, only a small percentage of undergraduate or master's students publish their works, and from the perspective of universities there is a lack of additional encouragement to engage in scientific activities. The most pressing problem observed was that neither universities (only 3 out of 10) nor state institutions monitor students' scientific activities, which leads to the fact that there is no research on the topic of scientific activities of students in Lithuania. More about the study can be found here.

Study of voluntary student scientific activities ​

According to a previous study of the scientific activities of students, a study was conducted to review what would encourage students to engage in voluntary scientific activities. The study found that students are more likely to engage in scientific activities when they value their studies and learning achievements well. One of the reasons why students do not engage in voluntary scientific activities is that students do not know where to turn in order to get involved and where they can carry out this activity. It is worth noting that although the financial incentive in the study was not statistically significant, the majority of respondents would support the idea of providing a financial incentive for those performing voluntary scientific activities, which would potentially reduce the appearance of a lack of time or motivation, since in this case students would not need to Looking for additional work.

Overview of social dimension measures and their groups ​

The study was prepared during the autumn semester of 2021. The study reviews and discusses the most frequently mentioned plans for access to higher education in the European Higher Education Area. Based on the practice formulated by the existing plans, a methodology is proposed and formulated to define the barriers experienced by socially vulnerable groups in participation in higher education. More about the study can be found here.

Review of social dimension measures: what can students say? ​

The study was prepared during the spring semester of 2022. This study provides a further analysis of the groups of barriers and measures experienced by students previously presented. This study has implemented intelligence focus groups to provide examples in summarizing and clarifying the barriers faced by socially vulnerable people. There is also an overview of similar, broader studies, the methodology of which can be used to develop data and analysis-based solutions for the development of plans for access to higher education.

Study of the integration of freshmen into the university ​

VU SR conducted a study on the integration of freshmen year students. The aim of the research is to find out the effectiveness of the activities carried out by VU and VU SR and involvement in the successful process of integration of freshmen students. A total of 825 students participated in the survey, of which 61 were foreign students. From the answers it can be concluded that during the first week of study, most of the freshmen participate in the events organized in the academic core unit and the meetings of the curators with the groups of their study program. Also, the majority of respondents said that the Contact Fair, which took place during the Integration Festival, was the most helpful for getting to know the University. During the survey, it turned out that the majority of respondents know the basic norms of academic ethics at VU and believe that their course is dominated by a good atmosphere and knows how their study program is drawn up. You can read more about the study here and get acquainted with the results of the study here.