February 3, 2010
School of Education News
By Amy Yuen

Students in Associate Professor Eric Bettinger's Economics of Higher Education class were treated on Tuesday to a guest lecture on higher education in Lithuania by Adrius Kubilius, prime minister of the Republic of Lithuania.

Kubilius' talk, "Innovating Lithuania," highlighted the economic, geographic and educational assets of the country, the largest and most populous of the Baltic states. Since joining the European Union (EU) in 2004, Lithuania has been one of the fastest growing economies in the EU, but also one of the hardest hit by the recent global recession. About 40 percent of its people have some degree of higher education, says Kubilius, double the EU-15 average.

Students asked Kubilius questions about issues that ranged from the growing challenges Lithuania faces in subsidizing higher education to the effects of globalization to issues of equity and access to higher education institutions.

Kubilius' stop at Stanford was part of a week-long visit to the Bay Area, New York and Washington to promote Lithuanian business and investment opportunities among leaders of U.S. high-tech and IT companies.