Multinational school helps attract investment

In these days of globalization, it is no longer just diplomats who face the dilemma of reconciling the good of their family with careers that require relocating to foreign countries.

Many people wonder if their kids' education and social development could suffer from sometimes repeated moves.

The American International School of Vilnius is helping foreign workers get around such worries. Like similar institutions in many countries, including Latvia and Estonia, it seeks to provide an education tailored to a global world.

The school sits atop a small hill on the outskirts of Vilnius' Old Town. Founded in 1993 with just 2 students, it has grown along with the international community here. Today it boasts a student body of 95 pupils from 18 countries. The 22-member multinational faculty teaches children from preschool through grade 10.

According to Lithuanian Development Agency Director General Vytas Gruodis, the school has helped attract investment to Lithuania.

"There's no doubt about it, the availability of an international school is an important factor for investment, because business people are very concerned about how possible relocation will impact family life," said Gruodis. "And we're happy to see how enrollment at the school has been increasing – it's a reflection of the growing investor community."

Sanjay Deva, general manager of the Radisson SAS Astorija Hotel in central Vilnius, said the school was a significant consideration when he agreed to relocate to Lithuania two years ago.

International flavor

A quick walk through the classrooms confirms that the American International School of Vilnius has an American feel, mostly because the blackboards, decoration and supplies have largely been brought in from the United States. But the school is much more international than American.

About a quarter of the students are from the United States, another quarter are from the Nordic countries. There are 10 Estonians, two Latvians and six Lithuanians, plus small groups from a variety of Western European countries as well as from Russia, Israel and India.

"Being here is like living in a mini United Nations," said school principal William Rose, who worked in American Schools in Bolivia, Egypt, Finland and other countries before coming to Vilnius. In an office replete with African masks, Latin American tapestries and other memorabilia, he seems to bask in a fascination with every culture.

"With the diversity we have, kids are so interested and their minds so open, they begin to understand and appreciate the differences," said Rose.

He recalled a case, from a previous posting, where pupils from countries fighting in the Middle East talked to each other and went out together.

"People generally cannot tell which of our students are from Germany, which from Italy or England or the U.S.," Rose noted. Part of the reason is they all speak quite good English.

Most non-English-speaking students master the language after just a few months at the school, according to Rose.

Safety, not isolation

Tall iron fences and a guardhouse at the entrance give the immediate sense that the school puts a lot of emphasis on security.

"It has always been like that," said Rose. "People who go overseas for the first time are always concerned because they just don't know how it is. "Lithuania is a very safe country. We have security precautions not because there is any special threat, but just as a normal thing, to ease the supervision of a large group of young children."

At the same time, the school tries not to isolate itself, but to integrate into the local community. For example, at Christmas and on Lithuanian Independence Day, the school organized joint celebrations with the Lithuanian school next door. Some local families have enrolled their children in after-school and weekend leisure activities at the international school.

Older students are required to spend an hour and a half a week doing volunteer work on behalf of charitable organizations in Vilnius.

"A lot of people here view us as an elitist school, because the tuition is rather high," Rose said. "But look at the big expenses we have, to get supplies from abroad, bring teachers in, house them and pay competitive salaries."

The school's tuition currently runs $4,800 to $16,200 depending on the grade.

Rose said he would like to have more local children as students. Hopes are that as the school grows it will be able to offer scholarships.

After all, there are many families in Lithuania that could benefit from an international education, especially if the parents foresee moving abroad and want to prepare their children to adapt to an international environment.

Moving on

One of the school's top priorities is to ensure continuity in the education of children who frequently relocate. Over any three-year period, the typical length of a diplomatic posting, some two-thirds of the student body comes and goes.

"We work here for the children, and the saddest thing is you get to really know them and then they leave," said school employee Egle Mikolajunaite, who has patched up many scrapes and bruises in three years working at the school.

The international curriculum is designed to help students make a smooth academic transition, often to another English-speaking school wherever they are transferred.

At the high school level, use of the University of Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education model prepares students for higher-level programs such as the international baccalaureate (IB) or advanced placement in U.S. schools. Some graduates continue their schooling in Vilnius, joining the IB program at the city's Lyceum of the Natural and Exact Sciences.

The American school also has an interesting offering for teachers, both its own and outsiders, which allows them to earn a masters degree in education from Framingham State College in the United States by attending courses in Vilnius with visiting professors.