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public research university in Vilnius, Lithuania
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Vilnius University (Lithuanian: Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, it is Lithuania's leading research institution.
The university was founded in 1579 as the Jesuit Academy (College) of Vilnius by Stephen Báthory. It was the third oldest university (after the Cracow Academy and the Albertina) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the sole university in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Due to the failure of the November Uprising (1830–1831), the university was closed down and suspended its operation until 1919. In the aftermath of World War I, the university saw failed attempts to restart it by the local Poles, Lithuanians, and by invading Soviet forces. It finally resumed operations as Polish Stefan Batory University in August 1919.
After the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939, the university was briefly administered by the Lithuanian authorities (from October 1939), and then after Soviet annexation of Lithuania (June 1940), punctuated by a period of German occupation after Operation Barbarossa, from 1941 to 1944, when it was administrated as the Vilnius State University. In 1945, the Polish community of students and scholars of Stefan Batory University was transferred to Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. After Lithuania regained its independence in 1990, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it resumed its status as one of the prominent universities in Lithuania.
Established in 1579 in Lithuania’s capital city Vilnius, with a faculty in the second-largest city, Kaunas, and another in the fourth-largest city, Šiauliai. The university is composed of fifteen academic faculties that offer more than 200 study programmes in a wide range of academic disciplines for over 24 000 students. Vilnius University is known for its strong community ties, interaction and participation in additional activities offered by the non-academic departments of the university, such as the Cultural Centre, Health and Sports Centre, library, museum, botanical gardens, and other institutions.
Since 2016, Vilnius University has been a member of a network of prestigious universities–the Coimbra Group–and since 2019, it has belonged to the European University Alliance (ARQUS).The alliance aims to create joint, long-term, sustainable structures and mechanisms for close inter-institutional cooperation in the fields of studies, science and social partnerships. The Vilnius University Foundation was established on 6 April 2016, becoming the first university endowment in Lithuania. The Foundation supports scientific research of the highest quality and the creation of study programmes that correspond to global demands, while encouraging other high added-value projects.
More than 23,000 students are currently studying in more than 140 Bachelor’s and more than 140 Master’s degree programmes, with PhD studies offered in 29 scientific fields. Students can also choose from more than 60 medicine and dentistry residency programmes.
International students may choose from the 70 study programmes in English in such fields as medicine, odontology, business and management, economics, mathematics and informatics, philology, law, and communications. More than 2500 international students are studying at Vilnius University, which is around 10% of all students.
The university also offers joint study programmes together with foreign higher education institutions, like the Arqus joint Master’s programme “European Studies” and “Master in International Cybersecurity and Cyberintelligence”. During these collaborative studies, part of the programme takes place at the university, with the other part taking place at a foreign higher education institution. After the completion of these joint studies, a joint qualification degree can be awarded, if the requirements are met.
The research areas of Vilnius University are:
More than 1/3 of the PhD theses created in Lithuania are defended at Vilnius University, where over 3,000 research publications are published, and more than 400 research projects are implemented annually. Vilnius University has over 160 research teams, which are acknowledged across the globe. The university offers over 450 customizable R&D services in diverse areas such as life sciences, photonics, IT, and psychology
By attracting targeted funding or using the university’s funds, the university currently represents the country or participates as a partner in the following international research infrastructures: EMBL; EMBC (European Conference on Molecular Biology); Instruct-ERIC (Structural Biology Infrastructure); ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure); CERN; WAEVE Consortium (Next Generation Spectroscopy Facility for the William Herschel Telescope); and the Biobanks and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI-ERIC). The Semiconductor Technology Centre (PTC) and the Innovative Chemistry (INOCHEM) Centre are currently being developed. In addition to these research infrastructures, the university is actively involved in other research networks, associations and continuous research activities.
The EMBL Partnership Institute was established in the Vilnius University Life Sciences Centre (LSC), based on an agreement concluded in 2020, the main goal of which is to initiate and develop new directions and technologies in relation to genome editing research and applications in LSC, and to promote the application of genome editing technologies in LSC and Lithuanian research and study institutions and businesses.
From 2021, Vilnius University Business School coordinates and implements Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring (GEM) in Lithuania. GEM is the world's largest survey of the state of entrepreneurship, conducted since 1999.
Vilnius University participates in different national and international research projects such as the EU Seventh Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, COST, EUREKA, CERN, etc. To enhance the interrelation between science and business, Vilnius University has established four open access centres aimed at providing access to available research and laboratory equipment not only to students and researchers but also to representatives of business or to personnel of other institutions of science and research.
Professor Virginijus Šikšnys is recognized for his contributions to the development of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, often referred to as 'gene scissors'. He currently serves as the Head of the Department of Protein–DNA Interactions at the Institute of Biotechnology, Vilnius University.
Prof. Andrej Spiridonov is famous for the discovery of drivers of evolutionary changes at mega-scale. His latest research suggests that life rather than climate influences diversity at scales greater than 40 million years.
Dr. Mangirdas Malinauskas has been working in laser and optical technologies for more than ten years. At the Laser Research Centre, Dr. M. Malinauskas develops technologies popularly known as ‘4D printing’. Such technologies can produce so-called intelligent objects that can change shape and other properties in response to appropriate conditions: electricity, light, heat, humidity, acidity, solvent composition, etc.
Dr. Linas Mažutis is developing microfluidic technologies at Vilnius University Life Sciences Centre. He is a co-founder of two biotech and biomedical companies. The first one, Platelet BioGenesis, is an allogeneic cell therapy company focused on platelet biology, discovering a new category in therapeutics. He has also co-founded a start-up: the biotechnology company Droplet Genomics. The company’ is based on droplet microfluidic technology, enabling the study of single cells and molecules. One year ago, the company attracted an investment of €1 million.
In 2004, Prof. Valentina Dagienė has established an International Challenge on Informatics and Computational Thinking called BEBRAS (‘Beaver’) which is implemented in over 60 countries. It is an international initiative aiming to promote informatics (Computer Science, or Computing) and computational thinking among school students at all ages. Participants are usually supervised by teachers who may integrate the BEBRAS challenge in their teaching activities. The challenge is performed at schools using computers or mobile devices.
In 1568, the Lithuanian nobility asked the Jesuits to create an institution of higher learning either in Vilnius or Kaunas. The following year Walerian Protasewicz, the bishop of Vilnius, purchased several buildings in the city center and established the Vilnian Academy (Almae Academia et Universitas Vilnensis Societatis Jesu). Initially, the academy had three divisions: humanities, philosophy, and theology. The curriculum at the college and later at the academy was taught in Latin. The first students were enrolled into the academy in 1570. A library at the college was established in the same year, and Sigismund II Augustus donated 2500 books to the new college. In its first year of existence the college enrolled 160 students.
Vilnius University was established on 1 April 1579, during the conflict between the Reformation and the Catholic Reformation. Stephan Bathory, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, granted a charter to create the Vilnius Academy. Later, on 30 October, Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull, officially recognizing Vilnius College as a university. The institution was formally named Academia et Universitas Vilnensis Societatis Iesu (Vilnius Academy and University of the Society of Jesus). The first rector of the academy was Piotr Skarga. He invited many scientists from various parts of Europe and expanded the library, with the sponsorship of many notable persons: Sigismund II Augustus, Bishop Walerian Protasewicz, and Kazimierz Lew Sapieha. Lithuanians at the time comprised about one third of the students (in 1586 there were circa 700 students), others were Germans, Poles, Swedes, and even Hungarians.
In 1575, Duke Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł and Elżbieta Ogińska sponsored a printing house for the academy, one of the first in the region. The printing house issued books in Latin and Polish and the first surviving book in Lithuanian printed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in 1595. It was Kathechismas, arba Mokslas kiekvienam krikščioniui privalus authored by Mikalojus Daukša.
From its inception, Vilnius University held the authority to award Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees. As a Jesuit institution, it was one of 23 such universities in Europe during the 16th to 18th centuries. However, in terms of its geographic and cultural reach, Vilnius University was unique. For two centuries, it stood as the easternmost university in Europe. In 1569, Jesuit Baltasarus Hostovinus, after visiting Lithuania, remarked, "No city in the North rivals Vilnius in reputation and livability. It is strategically located near Moscow, the Tatars, and Sweden, and is unmatched in its educational offerings, lacking any nearby universities or prominent schools with qualified Doctors or Masters to instruct."
The academy's growth continued until the 17th century. The Deluge era that followed led to a dramatic drop in the number of students who matriculated and in the quality of its programs. In the middle of the 18th century, education authorities tried to restore the academy. Thanks to the rector of the academy, Marcin Poczobutt-Odlanicki, the academy was granted the status of "Principal School" (Polish: Szkoła Główna) in 1783. The commission, the secular authority governing the academy after the dissolution of the Jesuit order, drew up a new statute. The school was named Academia et Universitas Vilnensis.
Vilnius University was a prominent institution during the Baroque era in Lithuania. The city's capital, Vilnius, became a key northern and eastern Baroque city. The Jesuits hired architect Joannes Christophorus Glaubicius from Silesia to repair the university's buildings and the Church of St. Johns. Glaubicius, who later became a leading 18th-century architect in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, worked with various religious communities and developed a unique Vilnius Baroque style. In the late 18th century, Vilnius University underwent significant reorganization. This led to the foundation of the first observatory in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (the fourth such professional facility in Europe), in 1753, by Tomasz Żebrowski. The Commission of National Education (Polish: Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), the world's first ministry of education, took control of the academy in 1773, and transformed it into a modern University. The language of instruction (as everywhere in the commonwealth's higher education institutions) changed from Latin to Polish.
On 3 May 1791, a new generation educated under this curriculum approved the Constitution of Lithuania and Poland, the second written constitution after that of the USA. University professors improved the Astronomical Observatory, established the Botanical Garden, collected various plant and mineral samples, and organized the first expedition to search for natural resources in Lithuania. Even after the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was abolished in 1795, Vilnius University continued its vibrant intellectual life and promoted new ideas in the Natural Sciences. The university also produced renowned poets like Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki, who became leading figures in Polish culture. Simonas Daukantas, a key figure in the Lithuanian movement, was the first to write Lithuania's history in the Lithuanian language.
After the Partitions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Vilnius was annexed by the Russian Empire. However, the Commission of National Education retained control over the academy until 1803, when Tsar Alexander I of Russia accepted the new statute and renamed it The Imperial University of Vilna (Императорскій Виленскій Университетъ). The institution was granted the rights to the administration of all education facilities in the Vilna Educational District. Among the notable personae were the curator (governor) Adam Jerzy Czartoryski and rector Jan Śniadecki.
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