VLNIUS: Indian students have started to explore new parts of Europe for higher education and many are headed to Lithuania.

Lithuania has recorded a massive increase in the number of Indian students heading to its universities with the latest data showing that the number of Indian students studying full time in the Baltic country have increased from 37 in 2011 to 357 in 2014.

In 2012, there were 57 students from India enrolled in Lithuanian colleges which increased to 224 in 2013.

This year, the numbers are expected to breach the 500 mark.

From January to June of 2015 “Study in Lithuania” website was visited 64,931 times. The most visitors came from the following five countries: India – 7.695 sessions, Ukraine – 5.789 sessions, United States – 4.944 sessions, Russia – 3.996 sessions and Belarus – 3.393 sessions.

In 2014, the most popular Lithuanian university amongst Indians was the Kaunas University of Technology with 248 students enrolling there

The second in terms of popularity was Vilnius Gediminas Technical University which recorded 36 students from India.

According to statistics gathered by the Study in Lithuania department, in 2014 the only country which surpassed India in the number of students in Lithuania was Belarus (1617 students).

In 2015, the QS World University Rankings published a list of the best universities in emerging Europe and central Asia. Four Lithuanian universities made it to the top 100. Vilnius University was placed 32nd, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University – 47th, Kaunas University of Technology was placed within the 61-70th rank and Vytautas Magnus University – 81-90th places.

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Ilona Kazlauskaite, head of higher education programs unit in Lithuania told the TOI, “Indian students are sincere, diligent and very hard working. Their presence in our universities is raising the bar of excellence. Lithuania is known worldwide for its expertise in laser technology, agricultural and medical sciences, engineering and courses in art. Indians are now among the top 5 countries as far as the origin of our international students is concerned.”

Kazlauskaite said that Indians are coming to the country to study because “the quality of education is among the top in Europe while living costs and tuition fees are tremendously cheap compared to UK”.

News courtesy: TOI