Studying Medicine in Kaunas: Costs, Structure and Recognition

LSMU Kaunas at a glance

The key facts about the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) in Kaunas, as of the 2026/2027 academic year.

Who the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences is

Medical education in Kaunas begins in 1919, a year after the Lithuanian state itself. With the founding of the University of Lithuania in 1922 came the Faculty of Medicine, from which, via the Kaunas Medical Institute, the Kaunas Medical Academy, and Kaunas University of Medicine, today's LSMU emerged. On 30 June 2010, Kaunas University of Medicine merged with the Lithuanian Veterinary Academy, founded in 1936. Since then, a single university has brought together the training of doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and veterinary surgeons in Lithuania.

That concentration is the real character of the location. Seven faculties, four research institutes, cooperation with more than 140 universities in Europe, the Americas, and Asia: LSMU is Lithuania's largest institution for biomedical education. Since 2016 it has run a World Health Organization collaborating centre, and since 2019 Kaunas has been home to the first Gamma Knife in the Baltic states. The university introduced problem-based learning back in 2005.

The clinical base is Kauno klinikos. Almost 8,000 people work there, including around 2,300 doctors and some 2,600 nursing staff; over 540 employees hold an academic degree. Each year the hospital records more than 1.5 million patient contacts, treats over 96,000 people as inpatients, and performs around 78,000 operations. Almost a thousand of the doctors working there are themselves still in specialist training. Anyone studying in Kaunas therefore walks through a hospital where teaching and care share the same corridors.

Which programmes LSMU offers in English

LSMU runs four integrated programmes that lead directly to a health profession, plus undergraduate programmes in the health sciences. All the programmes listed in the table are taught entirely in English; the fees apply to the 2026/2027 academic year.

The first figure in each case applies to years one to three, the second to the remaining years. Pharmacy is the most striking item: 5,600 euros a year is less than half what human medicine costs at the same institution. Veterinary medicine is also well below at 9,200 euros – and it is available only here in Lithuania, because LSMU is the country's sole training institution for veterinary surgeons.

There is no German-language medical programme in Kaunas, nor anywhere else in Lithuania; anyone who wants to study in German will find that in Hungary, at the universities in Budapest, Pécs, and Szeged. With psychology, the distinction matters more than the language: the four-year bachelor's in health psychology is a social sciences degree and does not by itself entitle the holder to practise clinically or as a psychotherapist. That requires a master's and subsequent qualification in the country concerned.

On language: Lithuanian appears in the curriculum of medicine and dentistry from the first year and continues in years two and three. It is not a decorative subject. From the fourth year, students in Kaunas stand in front of patients who speak Lithuanian. For English, the LSMU admissions regulations require at least level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference.

The entrance examination consists of 30 biology questions and 30 chemistry questions, scored on the proportion of correct answers; an interview is part of it. Senate resolution no. 197-02 of 17 December 2025, by which LSMU set its admission rules for 2026, also names the exemptions: anyone bringing a German Abitur, British A-levels, or an International Baccalaureate with the required minimum grades does not have to sit the examination. What that means for your certificate specifically is something we look at individually – most easily in a free consultation.

What studying at LSMU Kaunas costs

The fees are the predictable part, living costs the variable one. For Kaunas, 500 to 650 euros a month is the usual figure. The breakdown below assumes 600 euros a month and is Medschool Experts' own estimate; it includes study materials and two trips home a year.

In human medicine, living costs therefore account for around a third of the total. With housing, much depends on the year of study: LSMU runs three halls of residence with prices between 81 and 250 euros per person per month, but places go primarily to first-year students. From the second year most students look privately, and rent is then noticeably higher. That step belongs in every budget plan. There is also a one-off application fee of 150 euros.

On funding: for a full degree in the EU there is Auslands-BAföG under section 5(2) no. 3 of the German federal student funding act, currently up to 992 euros a month, plus a tuition fee supplement of up to 5,600 euros as an outright grant – though for no more than twelve months. The KfW student loan 174 is ruled out for a complete degree abroad according to the information sheet of November 2023. This gap is worth knowing before you do the sums.

How the medical programme in Kaunas is structured

Since 2005 the human medicine curriculum has followed problem-based learning: content is organised not by subjects such as anatomy or biochemistry but by functions of the body. Movement, metabolism, respiration, circulation, immunity, neuroscience – each module draws together the basic subjects belonging to that system.

The 32 teaching hospitals are the reason LSMU can keep groups small despite large cohorts. Emergency medicine, internal medicine, surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics, and gynaecology are spread across several hospitals. Dentistry follows a similar structure: two years of foundations with Lithuanian, then cariology, endodontics, orthodontics, periodontology, prosthodontics, paediatric dentistry, and oral surgery with extensive treatment practice.

Where may you work as a doctor with this degree?

Lithuania has been a member of the European Union since 1 May 2004. For doctors, Directive 2005/36/EC therefore applies: Article 24 requires at least five years of study and 5,500 hours of theoretical and practical training, and Annex V lists the training qualifications that are automatically recognised. The version of the annex currently in force comes from Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2023/2383 of 23 May 2023, applicable since 9 October 2023. Under point 5.1.1, Lithuania is represented by the „Aukštojo mokslo diplomas, nurodantis suteiktą gydytojo kvalifikaciją“ or the „Magistro diplomas“ with the medical qualification, together with the accompanying certificate „Internatūros pažymėjimas“, with a cut-off date of 1 May 2004.

For the Approbation in Germany there is a rule that is often overlooked: anyone who holds German citizenship or completed schooling or vocational training in German in Germany has to sit neither the general language examination nor the specialist language examination. Both apply exclusively to applicants without a German-language school or training background. In Switzerland, a language certificate at level B2 applies correspondingly.

The American route has been open for Kaunas since 2023. The Lithuanian quality agency SKVC was recognised by the World Federation for Medical Education with effect from 2024; its accreditation of medical study programmes runs for seven years, and the recognition of the agency itself for ten. Prof. Kęstutis Petrikonis, Vice-Rector for Studies at LSMU, said on 27 November 2023: „Therefore, after acquiring globally recognised medical qualifications in Lithuania, graduates of LSMU will be eligible to take the USMLE exams without any restrictions and, if successful, pursue their careers in the U.S.“ Prof. Andrius Macas, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, added: „As for international students, it signifies not only the proof that they have made the right choice but also access to a significantly broader job market.“

Dentist, pharmacist, psychologist, veterinarian: the legal position for each profession

Automatic recognition under Directive 2005/36/EC applies not only to doctors, but it is regulated separately for each profession.

Dentistry: Annex V point 5.3.2 lists for Lithuania the diploma with the qualification „gydytojo odontologo“ as well as the corresponding master's diploma, likewise with a cut-off date of 1 May 2004. Unlike for doctors, no accompanying certificate is provided for there. The five-year LSMU degree is recognised in Germany, Austria, and the rest of the EU without any substantive reassessment.

Veterinary medicine: Point 5.4.2 names as issuing bodies for Lithuania the Lithuanian Veterinary Academy and the Lietuvos sveikatos mokslų universitetas – that is, LSMU itself. The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine additionally holds international accreditation from the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education, awarded for the second time on 8 June 2022. That makes Kaunas one of the few locations in Eastern Europe where veterinary medicine can be studied in English with a European-accredited degree.

Pharmacy: Pharmacists fall under point 5.6.2 of the directive and are therefore also automatically recognised. Here too, the general language examination and the specialist language examination are waived for anyone who completed schooling or training in German in Germany. At an annual fee of 5,600 euros, pharmacy in Kaunas is one of the most affordable ways to study this profession in English within the EU.

Psychology: automatic recognition does not apply here. Psychological professions are not listed in the directive; in Germany the route runs via the reformed Psychotherapists Act and the Approbation as a psychotherapist, which is tied to particular course content. The LSMU bachelor's in health psychology is a good entry point into the health sciences, but it does not replace that route.

Career paths after graduation

A diploma from Kaunas is valid throughout Europe, and the figures show that this route is taken. According to FMH statistics, Switzerland counted 44,612 practising doctors in 2025, 43 per cent of them with a foreign diploma – the highest figure in Western Europe and well above the OECD average of 19.6 per cent. In the United Kingdom, according to the 2025 GMC workforce report, of 328,149 licensed doctors 138,405 were internationally qualified. The labour market is open. The question is rather where you want to start.

In Germany, the Approbation is followed by specialist training under the model training regulations: 48 months in the theoretical specialties, 60 months as a rule, and 72 months in the surgical specialties and in internal medicine with a subspecialty. Since 1 April 2026 the first year of specialist training has been paid at 5,792.90 euros a month under the TV-Ärzte/TdL collective agreement, with supplements on top. Austria shortened its basic training from nine to six months on 1 August 2026, because roughly half of it overlapped in content with the final clinical practical year. In Sweden, the bastjänstgöring has replaced the former AT phase since 1 July 2021, and in Norway entry via LIS1 is the real bottleneck.

Anyone wanting to go to the USA has the formal basis in the WFME recognition of SKVC. The 2026 NRMP match awarded 44,344 posts to 53,373 registered applicants; the match rate was 70.0 per cent for US citizens who studied abroad and 56.4 per cent for non-US graduates of foreign faculties. In Canada, the 2026 CaRMS match placed 931 internationally trained doctors, up from 851 the previous year. How long each of these routes takes and what examinations they require is set out in detail in the guide Career paths with an EU medical degree worldwide.

Living in Kaunas

Kaunas has around 312,000 inhabitants and lies at the confluence of the Neman and the Neris. Between 1920 and 1939 the city was Lithuania's provisional capital, and from that period comes the face that still defines it today: a dense collection of interwar modernist buildings. On 18 September 2023, at its 45th extended session in Riyadh, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee inscribed the site „Modernist Kaunas: Architecture of Optimism, 1919–1939“ on the World Heritage List. In 2022 Kaunas was European Capital of Culture.

In daily life the city is quieter and cheaper than Vilnius. Lithuania has had the euro since 2015, so there is no exchange rate risk. The university buildings and Kauno klinikos are in the Eiveniai district, and the halls of residence are spread across three addresses in the city. Kaunas Airport serves several German destinations, and Vilnius is reachable by train in a good hour. It gets dark early in winter, but the summer evenings are long.

Who LSMU Kaunas is the right choice for

Kaunas suits anyone who has settled on a health profession but is still moving between several subjects: at hardly any other European location do human medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, and health psychology sit so close together. The location also suits anyone with a German Abitur, which under the admissions regulations exempts you from the entrance examination, and anyone who wants to keep the American option open.

Kaunas is a less good fit if the funding is stretched thin. Fees rise from the fourth year, the Auslands-BAföG tuition fee supplement runs out after twelve months, and from the second year the cheap hall of residence place usually falls away. Anyone who does not want to learn a second foreign language will not be happy with the compulsory Lithuanian. And anyone who wants to study in German is better served in Hungary. Whether Kaunas fits your certificate, your budget, and your timetable can be settled in half an hour: book a free consultation.