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Vilniaus Gedimino technikos universitetas (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University), simply known as VGTU, is a public university in Vilnius, Lithuania. Founded on 1 September 1956, the university was first a Vilnius-based evening division of the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute. It currently has 10 faculties, 14 research institutes, 33 research laboratories, and 2 research and 4 training centers. According to the QS World University Rankings, VGTU is in the top 4 percent of world universities. QS has given VGTU five stars in teaching, facilities, and innovation. Measuring student mobility in the ERASMUS exchange program, VGTU is the most popular university in Lithuania for foreign students.

History
The founding date of VGTU is considered to be 1 September 1956, when the Vilnius Evening Division of the Evening Faculty of the Kaunas Polytechnic Insitute (now Kaunas University of Technology) was established, with chemistry Docent Jeronimas Kudaba as the first dean. In 1960, the division was reorganized into the KPI Vilnius Evening Faculty. Aleksandras Čyras was the Dean of the Faculty, and 500 students studied in departments of Civil Engineering, Electrotechnics, and Applied Mechanics. A year later, two new faculties, one in Mechanical Technologies and one in Instrument Manufacturing were added as the campus began also offering courses both during the day and in the evening. In 1962, the first class of graduates completed their studies. In 1964, the Faculty of Construction Economics was added, followed in 1968 by the Faculty of Urban Construction.

In 1969, the division separated from the Kaunas Polytechnic institute and became the Vilnius Civil Engineering Institute (Vilniaus inžinerinis statybos institutas), or VISI, and Čyras was named the first rector. In 1971, the Faculty of Architecture was added, and in 1987 the Faculty of Municipal Economy was established.

After the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania in 1990, the Supreme Council of Lithuania decided to change the VISI into the Vilnius Technical University (VTU), with Prof. Habil. Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas as Rector. After the statute of VTU was adopted in 1991, the Supreme Council approved the statue on 2 July 1992. VTU moved more toward a Western European university structure and featured faculties of Architecture, Construction, Engineering Communications, Mechanics, and Electronics.

The following year, in 1993, VTU established the Aviation Institute and two more faculties, one in Business Management and one in Fundamental Sciences. A year later the Faculty of Transport Engineering followed suit.

On 22 August 1996, the Lithuanian Government awarded the name of Gediminas, a 14th Century Grand Duke of Lithuania, to VTU, and the university became known as Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.

Prof. Habil. Dr. Romualdas Ginevičius was elected rector by the VGTU Senate in 2002. With the 2009 Law on Higher Education and Research, the Seimas of the Lithuanian Republic ordered all state-funded universities to reorganize into nonprofit organizations (Viešosios įstaigos) tasked with working in the public interest by 2011. VGTU met this requirement in 2011.

The Law on Higher Education and Research further demanded that the rector be elected not by the Faculty Senate, but, rather, by an external council made up of members of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania as well as members of the academic community. Seeing that in 2010 the Chief Official Ethics Commission had found Ginevičius in breach of laws separating public and private interests. The Commission considered Ginevičius an ineligible candidate for rector. Instead, the new VGTU Council elected Doc. Dr. Alfonsas Daniūnas. Ginevičius protested the decision, arguing that the Ethics commission confused the private and public interests of his wife, stating that he is a victim of the "political mafia."

Campus
The VGTU campus is spread across Vilnius, with the main buildings in the wooded Saulėtekis neighborhood of the Antakalnis eldership, not far from many of Vilnius University's faculties as well as Mykolas Romeris University and the European Humanities University. The future plans of the university involve expanding the Saulėtekis campus.

Saulėtekis
The Saulėtekis campus, officially located at Saulėtekio al. 11, is the main university campus. It houses the university's administration offices as well as the faculties of Environmental Engineering, Fundamental Sciences, Civil Engineering and Business Management. The VGTU library, which has over 100,000 distinct titles, is located nearby at Saulėtekio al. 14. The two primary VGTU dormitories are also on Saulėtekio al., at numbers 39 A and 25. The Saulėtekis campus is accessible from the Vilnius city center by the 2, 10, and 14 Vilnius trolleybuses. It is also served by the 4G and 5G express buses, 18 and 38 buses, and 19 and 21 trolleybuses.

Vilnius Old Town
The Faculties of Architecture and Creative Industries are located at Pylimo g. 26/1 in Vilnius Old Town, in a complex which includes a historical manor belonging to the House of Tyszkiewicz. The building is also the home of the VGTU bookstore Technika. The campus is located right in the city center, just off the Trakų stop, which connects with the Vilnius Train Station via the 1G express bus; 53 bus; and 1, 2, 7, and 20 trolleybuses.

Naujamiestis
The Naujamiestis eldership of Vilnius, also located in the city center, houses several faculties in two buildings. The Faculties of Mechanics and Transport Engineering are established at Basanavičiaus g. 28, while the Faculty of Electronics is located at Naugarduko g. 41. The former is across the street from the Algirdo stop, which connects several crosstown trolleybus lines, including the 14, which goes all the way to the Saulėtekis campus. The latter is near the Vytenio stop, which is served by the 73 bus, connecting northwestern and southwestern Vilnius neighborhoods.

Naujininkai
The Antanas Gustaitis Aviation Institute is located near the Vilnius International Airport in the Naujininkai eldership in the southern part of Vilnius at Rodūnios kelias 30. It is near the Oro uostas stop, which is served by the 3G express bus, as well as the 1, 2, and 88 buses, which connect the airport to the city center.

Academics
VGTU is split into 10 faculties and offers 45 bachelor's degree study programs and 59 master's degree study programs. Many study programs are also available in English or are available for distant learners. The study programs are split into five categories: arts, social sciences, physical sciences, technical sciences, and humanities. All of the degree programs are accredited by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania.

Antanas Gustaitis Aviation Institute
The Antanas Gustaitis Aviation Institute, named after Lithuanian aviation pioneer Antanas Gustaitis, was founded in 1993 and is an Approved Training Organisation. It trains pilots, air traffic controllers, aviation engineers and others involved in aviation. The departments of Aviation Technologies, Aviation Mechanics, and Avionics provide theoretical training for the students, while the Flight Training Unit, Air Traffic Control Unit, and Aviation Engineering Practical Training Depot provide practical training. The integrated (5 year) program in Aircraft piloting is offered completely in English.

Faculty of Environmental Engineering
The Faculty of Environmental Engineering was founded in 1968. Currently, it is made up of 7 departments, 2 research institutes, and 3 laboratories. The faculty includes 149 instructors including 21 full professors. It offers 9 bachelor's degree programs and 14 Master's degree programs. The BSc program in Building Energetics is available completely in English, as is the MSc program in Environmental Management and Clean Production.

Faculty of Architecture
The Faculty of Architecture began in Kaunas as a part of Vytautas Magnus University before becoming a part of the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute (now Kaunas University of Technology). The faculty joined what is now known as VGTU in 1971. It is the largest school of architecture in Lithuania and has over 500 students spread across bachelor's master's and doctoral studies. The bachelor's program is available completely in English.

Faculty of Business and Management
Founded in 1993, the Faculty of Business and Management currently has six departments. It offers bachelor's programs in English in the fields of Business Management and Economics Engineering. English language master's degrees are available in the fields of Business Management, International Business, Real Estate Management, and Sustainable Real Estate Management. The last two are joint degrees with the Belarusian State Technological University and the Kaliningrad State Technical University, respectively.

Faculty of Civil Engineering
The Faculty of Civil Engineering began in 1920 at Vytautas Magnus University. In 1969, it moved to what is now VGTU. The faculty is the largest body at VGTU and is the center of the university. It has ten departments and nine other research subdivisions, including laboratories and research institutes. A Civil Engineering bachelor's program is available in English, as is an Innovative Road and bridge Engineering joint master's degree offered with Riga Technical University.

Faculty of Creative Industries
The Faculty of Creative Industries is the newest faculty at VGTU. In addition to providing a lot of the general education lectures in social sciences and the humanities as well as language instruction, the faculty has two bachelor's degree programs and one master's degree program. The two bachelor's degree programs are in Creative Industries and Entertainment Industries, while the master's degree is in Creative Communication. Currently none of the degree programs are available entirely in English, but two semesters of the Creative Industries bachelor's degree is offered in English.

Faculty of Electronics
The Faculty of Electronics traces its history to 1961, though it became a full-time department of what would become VGTU only in 1987. It is split into five departments: Automation, Electrical Engineering, Electronic Systems, Computer Engineering, and Telecommunications Engineering. It offers study programs at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels. BSc programs in computer engineering and telecommunications engineering, as well as a MSc in electrical energetics systems engineering are all available in English.

Faculty of Fundamental Sciences
The Faculty of Fundamental Sciences was founded in 1993 to provide general education in fundamental science to students in various degree programs. The faculty has expanded to ten departments: Information Systems, Information Technologies, Graphical Systems, Chemistry and Bioengineering, Physics, Engineering Graphics, Mathematical Modeling, Mathematical Statistics, Strength of Materials, and Theoretical Mechanics. It offers degree programs at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels. Bachelor's degrees in Information Systems Engineering and Engineering Informatics are offered in English, and a master's degree in

Faculty of Mechanics
The Faculty of Mechanics is one of the oldest in the university, having been founded in 1956. It is made up of five departments, Mechanical Engineering, Biomechanics, Materials Science and Welding, Mechatronics and Robotics, and Printing Machines; and three research subdivisions, the Welding Research and Diagnostics Scientific Laboratory, the Research Laboratory of Vibroacoustics and Diagnostics, and the Institute of Mechanical Science. Study programs in English include the bachelor's programs in mechanics engineering and in mechatronics and robotics. The faculty also offers a joint master's degree program in mechatronics with the Braunschweig University of Technology.

Faculty of Transport Engineering
The Faculty of Transport Engineering was founded in 1994. It is made up of four departments and three research subunits. It publishes the scholarly journal Transport.

Other Research Bodies
VGTU has two research centers, the university-wide, interdisciplinary Civil Engineering Research Center, and the Competence Center of Intermodal Transport and Logistics, attached to the Faculty of Transport Engineering.

The university also boasts 14 research institutes. The interdisciplinary Scientific Institute of Thermal Insulation investigates means of creating building materials that insulate both heat and sound. At the faculty level, the Research Institutes of Smart Building Technologies, the Research Institute of Building Structures, and the Research Institute of Building Materials and Products all belong to the Faculty of Civil Engineering. The Research Institutes of Environmental Protection, the Road Research Institute, the Research Institute of Territorial Planning, and the Research Institute of Geodesy belong to the Faculty of Environmental Engineering. The Transport Research Institute belongs to the Faculty of Transport Engineering. The Institute of Applied Computer Science belongs to the Faculty of Fundamental Sciences. The Institute of Mechanical Science belongs to the Faculty of Mechanics. The Institute of Architecture belongs to the Faculty of Architecture. Finally, the Research Institute for Telecommunications and the Institute of High Magnetic Fields belong to the Faculty of Electronics.

At the university level, VGTU has 12 research laboratories. Four are related to the Scientific Institute of Thermal Insulation, and 8 belong to the Civil Engineering Research Center. Scattered throughout the rest of the university are 21 other research laboratories at both the faculty and department levels.

Student Activities
VGTU offers several extracurricular activities for its students, including the choir Gabija, the theater group Palėpė, and the Lithuanian folk dance group Vingis. A member both of the International Council of Organizations for Folklore Festival and Folk Art and the International Organization of Folk Art, Vingis was founded in 1962 and features about 70 members of the VGTU community.

Administration
Since 2011, the Rector of VGTU is Doc. Dr. Alfonsas Daniūnas. He succeeded the third rector of the university, Prof. Habil. Dr. Romualdas Ginevičius, who had been rector since 2002. The first rector of the university was Prof. Aleksandras Čyras, who headed the university from its formal establishment in 1969 to 1990. He was succeeded by Prof. Habil. Dr. Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas.

The Rectorate is made up of a Vice-Rector for International Relations, a Vice-Rector for Strategic Development, a Vice-Rector for Research, a Vice-Rector for Studies, and a Chancellor. The current Chancellor is Arūnas Komka.