Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas | |
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| Latin:Universitas Vytauti Magni[1] | |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | 1922; 104 years ago (1922) |
| Endowment | 92.98 million € (2024)[2] |
| Budget | 31.30 million € (2024)[3] |
| Rector magnificus | Ineta Dabašinskienė |
Academic staff | 481 (1,043 staff total) |
| Students | 7,709 |
| Location | , 54°53′54″N23°54′50″E / 54.89833°N 23.91389°E /54.89833; 23.91389 |
| Colours | Maroon Dark Grey |
| Affiliations | European Association for International Education EUA,Campus Europae, |
| Website | vdu |
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Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) (Lithuanian:Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, VDU) is a public university inKaunas,Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during theinterwar period as an alternatenational university.[4][5]
Initially it was known as theUniversity of Lithuania, but in 1930 the university was renamed toVytautas Magnus University, commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death of the Lithuanian rulerVytautas the Great, who is known for the nation'sgreatest historical expansion in the 15th century.[5]
It is one of the leading universities of Lithuania, and has about 8,800 students, including Master's students and Ph.D. candidates There are a little over 1000 employees, including approximately 90 professors.[6][7]
In 1918 with the establishment of the independent Republic of Lithuania, theState Council decided to reestablishVilnius University. Since Vilnius was later under Polish administration and the Lithuanian government had to be transferred to Kaunas, this decision was not put into effect.
At the beginning of 1920,Higher Courses of Study were established in Kaunas, laying the foundation for the establishment of a university. TheLithuanian Cabinet of Ministers decided to establish the University of Lithuania in Kaunas, 13 February 1922. The ceremonial opening of the university took place 16 February 1922, while on the 12th of April thePresident of Lithuania confirmed the university's Statute along with sixfaculties:Theology-Philosophy,Humanities,Law,Mathematics andSciences,Medicine and Technical Studies.
The affiliate Agricultural Academy was founded in 1924 on the basis of the Agronomy and Forestry sections of the Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences; in 1936 the Veterinary Academy was established in a similar fashion on the basis of the Veterinary section of the Faculty of Medicine.
On 7 June 1930, commemorating the 500th anniversary of the death ofVytautas the Great, the university was renamed in his honor (English:Vytautas Magnus University,Latin:Universitas Vytauti Magni).
In 1940, Vytautas Magnus University contributed to the reestablishment of Vilnius University. In the winter, the faculties of Humanities and Law were transferred to Vilnius whilst the Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences was moved in the summer. Theoccupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union forced the university to be named theUniversity of Kaunas in the summer of 1940. At the beginning of 1941, university professors took an active role in establishing theLithuanian Academy of Sciences.
TheLithuanian Provisional Government restored the name of Vytautas Magnus to the university after theNazi invasion of the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941. TheGerman occupation government closed the university in March 1943, after Lithuanians refused to form anSS battalion.
The university was reopened by the Soviet authorities of Lithuania in autumn 1944. Four faculties of History-Philology, Medicine, Construction, and Technology were established. The transfer of the Faculty of Philosophy toVilnius was the reason why the University of Kaunas was closed in the fall of 1949. The university was restructured intoKaunas Polytechnic Institute and theKaunas Medical Institute on October 31, 1950.
The government passed the law on re-establishing the Vytautas Magnus University on 4 July 1989 and the cabinet registered the temporary Statute later that month. The first academic year began in the university's re-established Faculties of Economics, Humanities and Sciences on 1 September 1989.
The re-established university was the second in thenSoviet-occupied Lithuania, and the first school of higher education that was independent of governmental institutions. The most important principle in the university's activity became academic freedom, while its main purpose was to prepare graduates with a broad humanistic orientation for Lithuania's needs in research, culture, education and economy.
A common program of study in humanities and general education for the first two years of study for all students appeared in 1990. Its aim was to develop well-rounded individuals who were free and creative.
In 1991 the university was the first in Lithuania to establish in a system of study based on several levels, the completion of which resulted in the granting ofBachelor's orMaster's degrees, as well asDoctoral degrees. The feature of this university still remains exceptional in Lithuania today: this is a liberal policy for studies, according to which students are admitted not into specific specializations but into fields of study.
The students themselves put together their plan of study and make a final choice of their program after the first two years of study. Particular attention is given to foreign languages and computer skills, making this university different from other schools of higher education in the country.
During the university's first decade the number of students and teachers grew more than twenty times. It has become the center for academic work in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Theology and Fine Arts, Political Sciences and Law in Kaunas. Modern programs have been expanding in Informatics, Environmental Sciences, Biology, Mathematics and Physics.
Master's and Doctoral studies became a priority at the university and demanded a pedagogical staff with high qualifications. Therefore, the university invited to its classrooms and laboratories the most celebrated of scholars from Lithuania's research institutes, creating in 1993 the first Research and Study Association in Lithuania. Ten Lithuanian research institutes formed this association together with the university: the Institutes for LithuanianHistory,Lithuanian Language, LithuanianLiterature andFolklore, LithuanianPhilosophy andSociology,biochemistry,Mathematics andInformatics, SemiconductorPhysics, Psychophysiology and Rehabilitation,Architecture andCivil Engineering, and LithuanianForestry.
The university has the right to grant doctoral degrees in nineteen scholarly fields and their branches and the Doctor Habilitus in eight fields. The pedagogical titles of professor and associate professor may be granted in the fields of Humanities, Social Sciences, Physics and Biomedicine.
The university has the following subdivisions:[8]
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| Global – Overall | |
| QS World[9] | 741-750 (2026) |
| THE World[10] | 1201–1500 (2024) |
| Regional – Overall | |
| QS Emerging Europe and Central Asia[11] | 61 (2022) |
Vytautas Magnus University is currently ranked 801-1000 among World top universities by 2020 QS World University Rankings.[12]
The university has ties with numerous universities ofNorth America andEurope, as well asEast Asia.
Special student and teacher exchange programs have been set up with the following universities:
A program in Baltic Studies for foreign students was initiated at the university in 1997.
It is a member of theEuropean Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences.[13]
Questions concerning students' academic, social and cultural rights are resolved through the Student Council. About thirty student corporations and clubs are active in the university. The university's artistic groups – the Women's Chamber Choir, the dance group "Žilvitis", thefolkloric ensemble "Linago" and the Rhetorical Theatre – have won various contests in Lithuania and abroad.
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