Congratulations to our international students as their studies at Vilnius Business College begin exactly now!

First day at the college means meeting new people, feeling over the moon about the new beginning and hearing some practical info about the start of the studies.

Tomorrow our international students will have an interesting tour of Vilnius. We believe that’s the best way to know a new city.

Welcome, and thank you for choosing studies at Vilnius Business College!

Dear students,

We’re excited to begin the new academic year on 2nd October 2023.

During the first day, we’ll be hosting several events to help you get settled in and familiarize yourself with the campus. Here is a programme:

These activities will include a welcome session, orientation, and a campus tour led by our student guides.

Please participate in these events in order to make an easy transition into your new academic journey. Keep an eye out for additional details regarding the start of the academic year, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

The main topic of the project is to examine and present sustainable tourism in the project partner countries.

Project participants – Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia.

Vilnius Business College students, together with partners from other countries, prepared presentations about the possibilities of sustainable tourism in their countries during virtual meetings, which they presented during live contact, answered the audience’s questions, and tried to offer ways to expand and popularize sustainable tourism.

During the live meeting, the project participants went to different tourist areas/companies, where they learned about the work being done or intended to be done to promote organic tourism (chocolate factory, pumpkin seed oil press, observation tower of the Lendava region, baking of national bread, etc.).

Lecturers and specialists working in the fields of environmental protection and tourism gave lectures to the participants (about the importance of watersheds for wildlife and the fight against climate change, the importance of beavers for ecosystems, etc.).

Good practices were exchanged, countries’ progress, advantages and obstacles of sustainable tourism were compared.

The result of the meeting is a video about sustainable tourism in each of the participating countries.

Did you know that after completing your studies at Vilnius Business College, you can immediately pursue master’s studies?

This is the result of the college’s collaboration with the Barcelona Technology School in Spain.

Any of our professional bachelor’s degree program graduates can obtain a master’s degree here.
The study programs you can choose to earn a master’s degree are:

• Master in Digital Transformation Leadership,
• Master in Digital Product Management,
• Master in Big Data & AI Solutions,
• Master in User Experience Design.

Studies at the Barcelona Technology School are in English.

Vilnius Business College students will get a  special discount!

More information: https://barcelonatechnologyschool.com/

Mannh Kamble came from India. Business management and marketing are already the second study programme which he studies in Lithuania. Who brought him from hot India to Lithuania, where he is counting the sixth year of his life? Mannh talks openly and honestly about his studies, cultural challenges and why living in a foreign country so strongly teaches us to live in the present. For your attention – an interview with our college student from abroad!

How did you end up at the Vilnius Business College?

Engineering studies brought me to Vilnius, but my old dream of working for myself and creating my own business did not leave me. I decided to take a break and once on my way to work I saw the inscription “Vilnius Business College” on a huge building. I got interested, read more, went to talk and…I was hooked. I was attracted by the study program, informal, warm communication, and an environment that does not resemble standard classrooms. The gap year I had planned ended very naturally before it even started. It felt like everything fell into place by itself.

And what is the study experience like after the first year?

Great! The first semester was very addictive because the studies are interactive. Instead of constantly reading a pile of books before, here the learning process is gradual and with a lot of practice. You need to read books, but the teacher can give you the task of finding the desired literature on a certain topic. We also pay a lot of attention to what is happening in business and in a particular field, not just in general, but at the moment, how it relates to the subject of study. And this is the case in all lectures, so studying is interesting.

My group mates are smart and cool, I really like them. I even work with some of them in the same job.

How did you manage to adapt in Lithuania, a completely new country for you?

I have been living in Vilnius for six years, so I am no longer a newcomer. When I was preparing to go to Lithuania for the first time, I was not too interested in the country, because the most important thing for me was my studies. Now it’s fun to remember when family members, just 30 minutes before leaving for the airport became interested in the climate of Lithuania and, seeing -20 C, rushed to look for warm clothes. Men’s or women’s jacket – it didn’t matter anymore! The housemates were also worried about the Indian food that I am used to.

I like Vilnius. I made friends from my previous studies, and later, in order to get to know Lithuanians better, I tried various methods, for example, talking to a stranger in the city every day. And I was successful! I also found friends with the help of my girlfriend. Currently, my circle consists of Lithuanians and foreigners, I have no friends from India.

When I could find a job, I found it on the Internet, social media with the help of networks. The fact that I am trying to learn to speak Lithuanian helps me a lot. I can now talk about simple everyday things.

What cultural challenges did you face?

What was new was that people in Lithuania value personal space much more. I like that Lithuanians are quite straightforward people: they don’t mince words, they say it as it is. When you find a Lithuanian friend, you know that he is real and reliable.

In India, I was used to a huge variety of languages, customs, religions, etc. diversity, and this is not the case in Lithuania. However, you get used to everything, even the Lithuanian weather, because after summer the temperature does not immediately drop to -20. The weather cools down gradually, and everything is saved by the right clothes.

What would you advise to our new students which considering studying at the Vilnius Business College?

Be open. The most important thing is to stay focused on your long-term plans, to be active every day. Study as many different subjects as possible, make the most of all the opportunities – that’s how your studies in Lithuania will be memorable. If you see an opportunity, such as a job offer on LinkedIn, don’t hesitate to give it a try.

It is very important to make as many contacts as possible and to learn the Lithuanian language. Local people, seeing your efforts, will be happy to help.

When you come to Lithuania, don’t compare it with your country. It doesn’t do anything and it doesn’t help in any way. You cannot have one foot in Lithuania and the other in your home country. You have to live in the present, here, where you are now, in Lithuania.

Thanks to Mannh Kamble for the interview! We wish you success in your further studies!

The ongoing admission is your chance to choose, decide and make this stage of your life a success!

-Choose your study programme from the BUSINESS or IT fields of study.

Click here to find all the information you need in one place!

Consultations are available by email and phone at the following contacts:

admission@studybusiness.eu

+370 603 83 398

So proud of our students on their graduation day! We celebrated 31st generation of graduates from Vilnius Business College. We are especially proud of our first generation of distance learning students who used the chance to get their diplomas while studying from any city in Lithuania or abroad. Congratulations to all of you!

The Vilnius Business College offers an 80-hour Lithuanian Language intensive course, specifically designed for foreigners planning to participate in the Lithuanian language and the constitutional examination in order to obtain residence permits in Lithuania. (more…)

Did you know that every student at Vilnius Business College has the opportunity to study abroad for six months under the “Erasmus+” exchange programme? You can talk a lot about the requirements or the documents you have to fill in, but what could be better than a true story? Armandas Pranaitis, a Business Management and Marketing student, shares his experience of studying in Barcelona.

If a student asked me if it’s worth it to study abroad under “Erasmus+”, I’d grab them by the scruff of the neck and say it is. I know that when they are in another country, they won’t regret their decision for a second. This programme gives students the opportunity to broaden their world view, to communicate with people from other countries, to learn to be independent, to take responsibility for themselves. When you see the wider world, everything is different”, Armandas Pranaitis said bluntly.

He went to Barcelona in the spring of 2021, when the world was still in a state of quarantine and pandemic. The challenges experienced during this period and the positive feedback from friends who had gone on this exchange programme were the reasons for his decision. “At first I wanted to go with my friends, but then I asked myself what would happen if I went alone? The thought caught me and never let go,” the student said of his inner motivation.

What do you need if you want to go abroad to study?

Preparing to go to another country to study for six months has two stages, according to A.Pranaitis: filling in the paperwork and gathering information. The college administration helped him fill in the paperwork and he advises them to contact them if they have any questions or uncertainties. After completing the application, he spent a lot of time looking for information about life in Spain so that he knew what to prepare for and what to expect. As a result, A. Pranaitis says he did not experience any unpleasant surprises when he went to the country. From the very first days in Barcelona, life in the country taught the student lessons of independence, but they were not as difficult as they might have seemed when he was still in Lithuania.

Getting used to a new place, getting to know your neighbourhood, attending your first lectures and making friends – these simple things in Lithuania have become a new experience here. “It took me a week to settle into Spanish life and set up my own home. When I started going to lectures, I quickly found it very easy to make friends and get help from other students. Students are the first to write to me and ask me how I am doing. They helped me to find out what tasks I had to do, if there was anything I might have misunderstood or missed. In this way, I developed my knowledge of both English and Spanish. These were the languages I studied in”, said the student, whose chosen field of study remained the same – business management and marketing

What does a six-month Erasmus+ study programme actually provide?

When asked what he gained from his six months of studies in Barcelona, Armandas Pranaitis emphasised several things:

• Developing self-reliance and responsibility

“I realised that I have everything and can do everything myself. I learned to change my environment completely and adapt quickly.”

• Significant improvement in English language skills

“I thought I spoke pretty good English until I talked to people with a strong, specific English accent. Understanding someone who speaks like that is a different matter. Because the university I went to, the dormitory I lived in, had people from all over the world, I spoke English every day. There was a fluency, I didn’t get stuck if I didn’t know a word, and I got a better sense of the language.”

• Sensing cultural differences and developing tolerance

“Both Spaniards and foreigners living in Spain are very open and easy people to talk to. Unlike in Lithuania, they are quick to open up and tell their own or their family’s story. To feel that people are always willing to talk and to be around was an amazing experience. At the same time, it was a great way to broaden the boundaries of tolerance: don’t judge others, don’t judge, don’t form prejudices.”

• The ability to relax more

“In Spain, I got a full sense of what relaxation really is, how it affects a person and how important it is. Not to be pressured by others and not to put too much pressure on yourself because of your career, the desire to earn money, the constant rush, to learn to leave your worries behind for a while and to just live – that’s what I learned during my studies in Spain.”

• Courage to take action and develop tolerance

“This trip has taught me to be more courageous to just take and do. I couldn’t have hoped for better from my studies in Barcelona. It was like an adventure, an venture. I’m so glad I experienced it.”

“Erasmus+” gave me a trip of a lifetime

Armandas Pranaitis encourages other students to be more determined and take the opportunity to study in another country. He thinks it would be especially useful for students who started their studies right after school without a gap year. “Studying with Erasmus+ will be a journey you will never forget for the rest of your life and will broaden your horizons immensely. The paradox is that you only realise how important it is when it all happens.”

Comment by Jurgita Mickevičiūtė, International Students and “Erasmus+” Coordinator

Every student at Vilnius Business College has the opportunity to study under the “Erasmus+” programme. The selection competition for the study programme takes place 2 times a year: in October (for spring departures) and in March (for autumn departures of the following academic year). You can study at universities with which our College cooperates. The selection criteria are very simple and achievable for most students: at least a 7 grade point average, a good command of English, and being active in academic and college activities. Students in any year can apply, except for students in the first semester of their first year, who do not have any grade point average yet.

Another way to gain experience abroad is through a traineeship. Internships abroad are popular among our students, and they look for different countries. The procedure is simple: fill in the paperwork and find a company that will take you on for the period of time you want.

Any questions about studying under “Erasmus+” or doing a traineeship abroad? Contact Marius Zalieckas marius.zalieckas@kolegija.lt