University of Applied Sciences, Fulda

Lithuania

Part One

The educational system in Lithuania is also more restricted than in Germany. The responsibility of the students is to study, but this restriction is not as great as Bulgaria. According to the Lithuanian student, "the studies have different systems. For example, the medical university . . . they have very strong system to attend all the classes. And if they miss some classes, they have to pay money for attending these classes extra. But my university was one of the not so very strongest . . ."
This means that in certain areas there is room for manoeuvre. Some universities are more flexible in allowing the students to decide about the parallel credits: ". . . we were just free to attend classes as much as we want, and we were mainly choosing the classes which were directly connected with my studies, business studies . . ." This, however, does not exclude a more structured system of organisation: ". . . but we didn’t get any big pressure from our head, from our faculty head . . . for my master studies, so it was compulsory to attend the classes and if you missed 20% of the classes you have to talk to your dean and to give an explanation why are you missing so much classes . . ."
The relationship is more relaxed - although this does not mean that it was on an equal footing. A high power distance exists, but the practice of having formal, top- bottom relationships mostly depends on the number of students in a course - a problem mentioned by many of the interviewees. The larger the course is, the more difficult it is to establish some kind of contact. This is also the case in Lithuania: "During my BA studies I just got one quite strong relation with my—em, Leiter/advisor . . . . Other professors they were a little bit too far for us, and, em, just at the last day, when we were celebrating our Diploms we recognised our professors and teachers in a very different view. . . . in master studies there is only 30 people who are studying, and we know each other by names. And we are shaking hands with some professors when meeting them in corridors or even in town. And we just can enter their office and discuss some problems, and the atmosphere is very different from BA . . ."

The lack of a more intensive relationship between the professors and students affects the way they can influence the students. From the perspective of the Lithuanian student, the influence was " too little, I would say. They were– just professors who give their lecture and just leave the room, and there were too little influence I would say . . . they are doing their job, they were not eager, very eager wanting to help . . ." The situation improves when the number of the students decreases and there is more time for a more intensive relationship: ". . . and exactly this part [a personal relationship] was lacking a little bit from professors in these years for Bachelor Studies, but after that they were giving more attention. And there were even such kind of offers of job from the side of the professors for students who they like and so on."

Personal relationships can have a significant impact on the situation of the students. In countries with high power distance relations, the individuals can find their way or work their way up the ladder by establishing relationships with the right person. In extreme cases, the relationship can be established by other means, which leads to corruption.
The Lithuanian student provides the following assessment: ". . . I would say it depends on the people. There are kind of professors who like when somebody is running after and asking and doing all the things, and the other people, other professors just didn’t take it into account. . . . you have to pass the exam, it’s your, it’s your problem how to study alone, by yourself. . . . it was important which–, which professors you like and which you don’t, because there are 80 people, and some of them professors know by name and some they don’t. And those who are known by names have some priorities, I mean, em, maybe by arguing about their notes [grades] of the exam . . ." And the cases of corruption are also mentioned: "There were some things like corruption, but, for example, my university, em, as a university where you can buy the notes, the medical university is known like you, em, you can buy the notes . . ."
The provision of services in Lithuania is apparently better than in the other eastern European countries: ". . . we didn’t have a very good situation with our computers . . . and you have always to wait a little bit, . . . but we had a quite good library, I would say, and we had library of the whole town . . . but it wasn’t difficult for us to get the necessary knowledge . . ."
Students were able to find their way easily through the system of choosing credits. Therefore no consultation units were necessary: ". . . the system how to choose every credit that was simplified to understand for everybody . . . in one week I get the system very well, and I didn’t have any troubles in these four years . . ."