VU SR projects
Project "Increasing the involvement of students in fostering academic ethics in the university community"
Academic ethics – one of the fundamental values of higher education – is enshrined both in the Law on Science and Studies of the Republic of Lithuania and in the statutes of higher education institutions, therefore it becomes an important duty of a higher education institution. One of the principles of academic ethics, academic integrity, is a particularly sensitive issue in higher education, the development of which must be given attention both at institutional and national level. In order to increase the involvement of students in fostering academic ethics at Vilnius University, VU SR implemented a project during which the training and planning of the VU SR program "Sąžiningai" was organized, open training courses were created in a virtual learning environment about academic ethics, presentations on the topic of academic ethics were organized for students, the issue of ensuring academic ethics was raised in the VU SR Parliament and the position of the organization was consolidated. Next, on this basis, an advocacy on the topic of academic ethics takes place.
Project "ECSTRA: Employability Competencies for Students Through implementation and Recognition of Activities"
One of the key skills needed to work and live in the 21st century is initiative and entrepreneurship, i.e., a person's ability to turn ideas into actions. We believe that higher education institutions must help students(s) acquire these skills, therefore, VU SR is implementing a project aimed at helping students(s) to acquire competences through voluntary activities, during which real-life problems would be solved through social innovations. In order to achieve this, we aim to enable communities to take the initiative and solve problems themselves, to develop and coordinate initiatives with a sustainable long-term impact, and to improve the system of recognition of competences acquired informally.
On the basis of this project, a canvas model and template adapted for the development of initiatives, volunteer management guidebook, trainings for community coordinators, who could expand the development of initiatives in the institutions and countries participating in the project, guidelines for the system of informally acquired competences for the system of crediting of competences acquired in higher education institutions and crash-course content for future initiative managers and teams on important topics of organization of activities are prepared.
VU SR is working on this project together with Vilnius University (VU) Jean Monnet University (UJM) and The University of Granada (UGR).
Project "Improving public governance in the field of education by involving non-governmental organizations"
This year, VU SR completed the implementation of a 3-year project to improve public management. The essence of the project is to strengthen the activity and quality of representation of the organizations participating in the project by improving public governance in the field of education. After the completion of the project, it is clear that the implementation of the project allowed the organizations to ensure high-quality and constant representation of the target group at various levels during the strategic period. In the context of the project, 20 proposals were submitted to the responsible institutions regarding the improvement of the education system in Lithuania, 12 studies and surveys were carried out and their analysis was carried out, and 1 set of positions was drawn up; various trainings and conferences were organized both for the development of competences of the members of the organizations and for the greater involvement of students(s). Thanks to this project, VU SR has already expanded the wide range of topics and issues affecting students(s) even more – in our activities we can rely on concrete and research-based data (which are often difficult or not found in external sources), and from them significant proposals and changes are formed for students(s) both at the University and national level.
Project partners: Knowledge Economy Forum, Lithuanian Union of Young Scientists, Šiauliai University Students' Representation and Kaunas University of Technology Students' Representation.