“English is the business language, since all the world speaks English, but we always prioritize candidates who speak German,” says Vilma Navikienė, personnel manager at the Lithuanian branch of Festo, the German industrial control and automation company.
Vytautas Magnus University, in Kaunas, has discovered that graduates from German studies programmes are among those with highest employment rates and incomes.
The university receives enquiries every day from companies looking to recruit people with German skills, dean of the Humanities Faculty Rūta Eidukevičienė told LRT.
Although Germany is Lithuania’s close neighbour and the two nations have a long history of interaction, Lithuanian school students do not seem to be that interested in learning German. This year, only 142 graduates took the national-level German graduation exam.
Some German-capital companies have even expressed interest in supporting secondary schools that teach German, according to LRT.
Germany is the third biggest foreign investor in Lithuania, accounting for 9.2% of direct foreign investment (31 December 2014).
It is also Lithuania’s fourth biggest trade partner in exports and the second biggest importer.
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