study in Kaunas
Lithuania's second city, and the one that matters most to international students — the medical university is here, not in the capital.
Kaunas holds the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, the country's medical and veterinary university, which teaches medicine in English and is the reason a large share of Lithuania's international students are here rather than in Vilnius.
It also has Kaunas University of Technology, a serious engineering and informatics institution, and Vytautas Magnus University for humanities and social sciences. The student population is large relative to the city.
Costs sit below Vilnius, and the city has an interwar modernist centre that is itself a UNESCO listing. The trade is a smaller English-language job market — real, but a fraction of the capital's.
The medical university, a major technical university, and a general one.
Lithuanian University of Health Sciences
Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and veterinary medicine, with long-established English-taught programmes.Kaunas University of Technology
Engineering, informatics, chemical technology and business, with substantial English-taught provision.Vytautas Magnus University
Humanities, social sciences, economics and natural sciences, with a liberal-arts orientation.Kaunas costs less to live in than Vilnius while holding the medical university and a strong technical one. For a medical student — who will not be using the capital's job market anyway — that combination makes it straightforwardly the better choice.
Against the other cities we cover in Lithuania, Kaunas is one of the cheaper. That is our reading of this country’s own spread, not a published index.
Living costs across Lithuania run roughly €350–750 a month — and dormitory places, from around €70 a month, matter more than the city does.
The practical texture of the place — what a week actually looks like.
Climate
The same Baltic pattern as Vilnius — long cold winters, short summers, and very little daylight in December.
Getting around
Buses and trolleybuses with student rates, in a city compact enough to cross easily. Vilnius is about an hour away.
Housing
Dormitories and a private market below the capital's. The dormitory option is the biggest saving available.
Working
The national rules apply. A smaller English-language market than Vilnius, though the technology sector here is growing.
Language
Lithuanian dominates more than in Vilnius. For medical students, clinical placements run in Lithuanian with Lithuanian-speaking patients.
The city
A UNESCO-listed interwar modernist centre, a big student population, and a rivalry with Vilnius that locals take seriously.
Unlike most countries in this guide: Lithuania's medical university is in Kaunas rather than the capital — the country's main international draw is not in its biggest city
And the check that outranks the city entirely: a Lithuanian medical degree is EU-recognised, but practising in Nepal still requires satisfying the Nepal Medical Council
For a medical student this is close to a free choice: the university you came for is here, the city is cheaper than the capital, and the Vilnius job market was never going to be part of your career. Note the clinical-language point, though — placements run in Lithuanian with Lithuanian-speaking patients, so treating the language as optional is the same mistake medical students make in Hungary, Czechia and China. And the NMC check comes before all of it.
Kaunas is one of 3 cities we cover in Lithuania. Tap any pin to compare — the city you pick moves your total cost more than almost any other choice you make.