ŠIAULIAI UNIVERSITY — WHO WE ARE
Šiauliai University is located in the forth largest city in Lithuania. It is the youngest state Lithuanian university, evolved from two well-established institutions. It was founded in 1997 by merging Šiauliai Pedagogical Institute and Šiauliai Polytechnical Faculty of Kaunas University of Technology. Currently, the university has about 500 lecturers and is attended by almost 12,000 students.
Šiauliai University is a classical university with eight faculties: arts, education, humanities, natural sciences, mathematics and informatics, social sciences, social welfare and disability studies and technology. There is also the In-Service Training Institute that offers professional qualification development through a range of training and certification programmes and professional courses.
The researchers and the staff are running, and have participated in, various projects. Šiauliai University prepares, arranges and administers EU Structural Funds, Equal, Framework, the Lifelong Learning Programme, Youth and INTERREG projects as well as the projects of the Nordic Council of Ministers. Šiauliai University maintains close contacts and has signed more than 110 bilateral agreements with universities and other higher education institutions in Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Italy, the USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Cyprus, Korea, Latvia, Poland, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Norway, Portugal, France, Russia, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey, Switzerland, Hungary and Germany.
A modern university
The university offers scientific research projects in social, humanitarian, physical, technological and biomedical sciences and has numerous research centres focusing on diverse issues. The university operates research centres in the following areas: biomedical engineering, dialectology, educational research, energy and ecologically clean technologies, social research, special education, physical processes modelling and public health. There is a science and technologies park, distant studies centre, management innovations centre and the Šiauliai University gymnasium. The university continually issues science journals as well.
Studies are organised into three cycles: first cycle or main studies (bachelor’s degree and professional studies; second-cycle studies (special professional studies and master’s degree) and the third-cycle studies (doctoral). Full-time, part-time and extramural modes of study are available.
Šiauliai University offers the following study programmes for foreign students:
Multimedia art (bachelor’s degree): Students acquire artistic knowledge and practical skills in the study of photography, video art, drawing, graphical design and composition. Also they acquire knowledge and skills in informatics, editing of digital sound, scenery and the basics of two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphical animation. Moreover, they gain knowledge in computer networks. Students learn to work with publishing and text-preparation programmes, study audiovisual technologies and techniques for creating web pages. The acquired knowledge and skills are solidified during two creative-training practices. Studies are finalised with the submission of a creative diploma project. After the successful completion of theoretical courses and practical work, students are granted a bachelor’s degree diploma in multimedia art.
Business administration (bachelor’s degree): Graduates of the business administration study programme learn how to plan and organise activities, manage work schedules, make decisions, choose the most effective marketing strategy for a company, understand the meaning of marketing and orient their activities towards meeting the requirements of consumers. Moreover, they are capable of analysing as well as prognosticating processes, are adept in research techniques and in applying modern methods of personnel recruitment. In addition, they know contemporary methods of work and production organisation, can evaluate needs and implement the optimal supply system (production).
Intercultural education and mediation (master’s degree): Holders of the Master’s degree in Intercultural Education and Mediation can work as a lecturer in institutions of higher education, as teachers in gymnasiums and comprehensive schools as well as in other institutions of education and culture where intercultural competence is required. They are equipped to work in departments of social protection, in social and public organisations and are trained in the preparation and implementation of international projects (foremost, EU projects).
Signal processing (master’s degree): The Master’s degree in Electronics Engineering provides knowledge of signal registering and its processing methods and enables the graduate to apply this knowledge. Furthermore, the professional competence of creating signal-processing equipment and the ability to apply contemporary technologies are acquired.
Šiauliai University has a universal library comprising 400,000 publications with access to 110,000 titles. Both the lecturers and students exhibit their works: paintings, graphics, textiles, and design along with sculptures, photographs and jewellery at the university’s art gallery. This encourages creativity and offers support to those entering the world of art.
Outside of studying, Šiauliai University students have an opportunity to participate in various activities: to dance, to sing and to play. The main sports cultivated at the university are basketball, football, handball, field hockey, volleyball, track and field athletics, weightlifting, swimming etc. There is the possibility to expand one’s knowledge of botany or just to enjoy the beauty of Lithuanian nature at the Šiauliai University Botanical Garden.
International students from Latvia, Poland, France, Switzerland, Denmark and the Czech Republic agree that it is worth studying at Šiauliai because the university offers thirty ECTS semester programmes in English; a wide variety of subjects in English; an easy application procedure; guaranteed accommodation at the dormitory; experienced teachers; interesting, informative lectures; and, according to the field of study, possible visits to schools and to companies. Mentors help incoming students and there are interesting excursions around the Šiauliai region and Lithuania where students can enjoy, among other things, good restaurants, fresh and delicious food, fine night clubs and a relatively cheap cost of living. There is also the possibility to travel around Europe, as Lithuania is conveniently situated.
Of the university, students comment: “Nice people, low prices, new friends, friendly students, a new culture, good and professional teachers . . . there is a good atmosphere at the international office . . . dormitory and university are located in the city centre . . . there is everything we need for living at the dormitory: clean room furnished with beds, a desk and a chair, a reading lamp, blankets, linen and towels, dishware and cooking utensils for kitchens, internet access, and washing machines”.
