ISM Excellent 100 Partnership Programme

“Not every young person can afford studying what he or she wishes; therefore, by inviting businesses to cooperate more actively we hope to ensure access to high-quality studies in Lithuania for the best students. By establishing scholarships companies will not only contribute to stopping brain-drain to foreign countries, but will also establish mutually beneficial relations with students: knowing the best students, they will be able to offer them internships or permanent jobs after completion of studies,” ISM Rector Dr. Nerijus Pačėsa says.
 
The ISM Excellent 100 Partnership Programme is based on financing the tuition fee, i.e. companies are invited to finance the difference between the tuition fee charged by the University and the funding allocated by the state. For the past few years this difference has been financed for some of the best students by the University itself, and from now on completely free of charge studies will hopefully be offered to a larger number of students. The financial support will be available to high-school graduates who will enter the University this year with a score of 20 or higher. By the data of the last year, about 150-200 of the entrants collected this score last year. This year, ISM hopes to offer free of charge studies to about 100 entrants.
 
In exchange for the support made available to students, companies will have the possibility to maintain contacts with the best Lithuanian students, to have scholarships named after them, to take part in events hosted by the University such as Career Days, and to make use of the University’s spacious and technically equipped premises in accordance with a pre-agreed schedule. Long-term sponsors will have ISM classrooms named after them.
 
According to the Rector of the University, companies will also be able to grant region-dedicated scholarships to support students originating from specific regions, for instance, a region where the company itself is operating. “There is an emerging trend in Lithuania, where, like in other western countries, businesses committed to social responsibility focus in their activities on the community in which they operate or with which they are most closely related. More and more regional companies appreciate the benefits of investing in the new generation of employees and therefore seek to contribute to the development of high-skilled specialists and to encourage them to stay and work in their native country,” Dr. Pačėsa says.
 
Justas Kučinskas, the Coordinator for the Development of Arvi company, one of the first companies to establish the scholarships, says it is no coincidence that the company has chosen to award two annual scholarships to high-school graduates of the Sūduva region. “We want talented people to stay and study in Lithuania and to come back to their native towns after studies to work, create, and live there. Although the majority of companies in our region are located in the so-called province, we work and compete with the whole world. We hope people educated at ISM will integrate into our team and we will successfully grow together,” J. Kučinskas says.