Vilma Žydžiūnaitė & Agnė Daučianskaitė-Kubilevičienė (Vytautas Magnus University)
While Lithuania successfully dismantled the centralized, Soviet-era higher education structure, the historical legacy of state control continues to collide with modern, market-driven and internationalized academic pressures. This ideological shift has forced Lithuanian scientists to rapidly reconstruct their professional roles, yet the exact markers of this institutional departure and its systemic impact on contemporary academic identity remain undertheorized and fragmented. This study addresses this gap by investigating the defining indications of Lithuania’s departure from the Soviet higher education system and exploring how these structural transformations reshaped the academic identity and behavior of scientists from the Soviet era to the present day. Utilizing an integrative literature review methodology, this research synthesizes historical accounts, academic policy documents, and empirical studies to map the trajectory of institutional reforms and the corresponding shifts in scientific identity within Lithuanian higher education. The outcomes of this literature review reveal that while structural indicators—such as the transition from highly specialized, state-directed research institutes to integrated university networks, the implementation of Western-style quality assurance metrics, and competitive, grant-based funding models—demonstrate a clear external break from Soviet centralization, the internal evolution of academic identity remains highly complex. The findings indicate that scientists navigate a dual reality: they embrace newly found academic freedom and international mobility, yet they simultaneously experience professional alienation driven by hyper-quantified performance metrics, heavy bureaucratic loads, and the commodification of research. Ultimately, the review demonstrates that the departure from the Soviet model is not a simple linear transition, but a continuous negotiation where residual Soviet bureaucratic mindsets paradoxically interlock with modern neoliberal pressures, resulting in a fragmented, highly pressurized contemporary Lithuanian academic identity. Conclusively, the study reveals that while Lithuania has successfully altered its institutional architecture, it has subverted genuine academic autonomy by replacing total Soviet ideological obedience with rigid, market-driven compliance. True modernization requires academic policies to pivot away from hyper-quantification and invest in sustainable, trust-based environments that allow authentic scientific identity to flourish.