Congratulations
Government of the Republic of Lithuania
Dear students of Vilnius University,
The past year and the beginning of this year have again brought great, previously unexplored challenges. For three years now, we have been living in a climate of global uncertainty and are learning to do the best we can – we are looking for solutions, trying to see the possibilities of each situation and reacting quickly to change, and at the same time we do not forget. raise questions that have matured for a long time and look for constructive solutions.
The determined students of Vilnius University are very delightful – when faced with difficulties, you have not been left behind, you are not left behind, you are not passive observers, but you yourself are constantly looking for ways and suggesting how your community can contribute to solving relevant problems.
By smoothly tackling challenges, at the same time you consistently raise issues relevant to the student and society as a whole, related to ensuring the quality of studies, paying attention to the weight of students' voice in the study process, possibilities of access to higher education through the prism of the social dimension. I am very glad that when you talk about improving the quality of studies, you, as a Students' Representation, develop the topic of academic honesty and act to ensure it, for example, you have created and implemented the "Sąžiningai" program for many years. You promote awareness and encourage students to independently manage and personalize their study plans. Your initiative to talk about the integration of students with disabilities from their own perspective is very welcome. On the one hand, the bureaucratic system needs to be improved, and on the other hand, the ability of the community to accept students with various needs is no less significant and your emphasis on the ability of the community to accept students with different needs. Thank you also for actively contributing to the development and improvement of the concept of the social dimension, analyzing how to involve students in scientific projects, deciding what can be done to ensure that doctoral studies meet the expectations of young scientists, and after graduation They could strengthen Lithuanian science and successfully join the ranks of the Lithuanian scientific community.
Thank you for your ideas and constructive cooperation in finding the best solutions to make studies accessible to everyone who wants to follow the academic path and inspire you to never stop learning and look curiously at the world.
Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania
Ingrida Šimonytė
LR Ministry of Education, Science and Sport
Dear students,
I am glad that the Vilnius University Students' Representation is characterized by unfailing activity and citizenship, the ability to act and unite. At this turbulent time, you have put in a huge deposit to provide as much clarity and encouragement as possible to your community. I believe that you will be happy to welcome those who are experiencing the most at the moment – let's do our best to make Ukrainians in a brotherly country feel welcome, feel safe.
I wish you to continue your meaningful work and fully improve, to develop not only the ability to adapt to new challenges, but also the stubbornness to find effective ways to solve them. Despite a sense of uncertainty.
I warmly congratulate you on the significant achievements of the past year and hope that you will not stop showing youthful courage and solidarity with today's freedom fighters.
Minister for Education, Science and Sport
Jurgita Šiugždinienė
Committee on Education and Science of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania
Dear students,
congratulations on another year of successful work! Your activity in finding the best solutions turns into energy that encourages you to move forward, look deeper, look for more perfect formulas for change. The past few years have been marked by extraordinary challenges, but I admire your focus, bold and youthful initiatives that inspire and leave you indifferent. Continue the work you have started, boldly and responsibly take on new ones! Protect and love dear Lithuania, be proud of the past of your homeland and build a prosperous future by following the path of educational and scientific progress! I wish you the determination and energy to achieve leadership and professionalism in your fields and the fulfillment of noble aspirations!
Prof. Artūras Žukauskas
Chairman of the Committee on Education and Science
Vilnius University Rector
Dear students,
The year has been challenging and full of global challenges that affect all of our lives. I believe that they have further strengthened the role of the University and revealed its essence. It is at the University that ideas are born and developed that create, support the state and society. University frees you to think independently and act socially. The university provides the tools and conditions to make sense of itself. And even becomes a refuge from adversity and misfortune.
I would like to sincerely welcome the fact that the students of Vilnius University, both in the face of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, demonstrated not only solidarity, but also became real leaders of society. Thanks to you, the University turns the declared values into real works. Students became volunteers, supporters, mentors, protesters, support voters, dealers, and at the same time remained active and significant members of the academic community.
I congratulate the Students' Representative Office of Vilnius University, which expresses itself not only as an active part of the community, but also as a source of new ideas, academic and social activity and respectful dialogue. I believe that the annual self-evaluation of the works will be an opportunity not only to enjoy what has been done, but also to appreciate what else you can do for the University, society, the state, which means for your own good.
It is important that the voice of students is heard even more widely not only at the University, but also in society. It is banal to repeat certain truths, but we keep repeating them because we are convinced of their legitimacy. I repeat, you are the future. It is our responsibility to help you to rise up, to find the motivation and courage to fulfil our ambitions.
I wish to continue to successfully represent the University and its students, to develop ideas and to prepare proposals that increase the common good of all of us.
Rector of Vilnius university
Prof. Rimvydas Petrauskas
Vilniaus University Senate
Dear students of Vilnius University,
The first European universities established in Italy, Bologna and Padua are approaching the millennium, and some of the new ones are just counting down their first decades, the history of Vilnius University gives us an honorable place at the very center of European development. We will soon be celebrating the 445th anniversary of our Alma Mater, so for the fifth century Vilnius University is creating the history of Lithuania by ageing once and for a generation.
For our university, the goddess of history, Klio, has led radical changes and experiences that we need to constantly reflect on and appreciate in order to creatively develop her intellectual identity. The 2021-2022 school year was marked by the pandemic, the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine, which led to vigilance, concentration and determination. As the ancient Greek thinker Thucydides observed, history is the truest form of practical philosophy.
The Senate of Vilnius University, formed in 2018, is leaving its term of office in the spring semester of 2022. Thanking the students operating in the Senate and other academic and organizational fields of Vilnius Alma Mater, I would like to emphasize that their responsibility, sensitivity and attentiveness in solving issues relevant to the whole community are an important part of the self-government of our University, which must be developed and nurtured. Therefore, I wish every student of Vilnius University to remain a member of a spirit-raising community for the rest of their lives, to realize as many of their goals as possible and to cherish with hope and love the face of a University dear to all of us, which was created even in the most difficult times before us and will remain after us.
Chairwoman of the VU Senate
Prof. Dainora Pociūtė-Abukevičienė
Vilniaus University Council
Dear colleagues,
Another year of tension and challenge. I dare say that the year of science and learning was not only for our Alma mater students' community, but also for society as a whole. Together we have transformed the forms of work and learning, clarified our values and social position, and together we created a modern and inclusive Vilnius University. It is good to see that the students were active and mature participants and partners of all these transformations.
On behalf of the entire VU Council, I thank you all for your partnership, initiative and volunteering. With all your youthful energy, continue to build your university – an international community based on mutual respect, where there is a dialogue between different generations, where science and studies combine with meaningful leisure and social responsibility and volunteering.
Eglė Radzevičienė
Head of Vilnius University Council
Vilniaus University Library
Dear students,
You, the largest and most dynamic part of the Vilnius University community, are the main visitors to our library. Here you study, work, make acquaintances, communicate. I am very pleased with your interest in what the library does and what it lives for. We, the library staff, are sincerely grateful for the openly based cooperation and constructive dialogue between our organizations.
The active involvement of VU SR representatives in the preparation of the 2022-2025 Library Strategic Action Plan has helped us to generate the areas on which we will focus on improving the informational study environment at the most recent time. This is a response to the individual information needs of consumers, strengthening the activities of the library as an information / academic literacy center, as well as a space that unites the Universite community, etc. The thoughts of the President of VU SR, expressed in the discussion on the issue of values, made a significant contribution to finding a common solution on which way we could synchronize the values of the organization (in this case, the University) and its structural unit (in this case, the Library).
The Library is grateful to you for encouraging you to improve, for not only for not only evaluating its work, but also for offering what and how to do so that information services and the information environment meet the expectations of service users as much as possible. During the reporting period of VU SR, the Library, using the consumer opinion research tool LibQual, which is recognized and widely used in the world of information institutions, conducted an extended consumer survey for the first time. When researching the opinion of users, I was surprised and was also pleased with the huge number of comments from those who filled out the questionnaires, confirming the fact that the library cares about you. We sincerely thank you for the help in the publication of the LibQual poll, the activism in expressing our opinion and the feedback given.
Young people are always in the avant-garde of the genealogy of innovations and their application, therefore, the involvement of the representative of VU SR in the working group on the preparation of the Open Science Policy Guidelines was both expected and very successful: significant contributions were made to the preparation of this document and the emergence of the topic of open teaching / resources in it.
Very soon you will join Lithuanian or foreign businesses, state institutions or academic activities. I have no doubt that the managerial, civic and social responsibility experience gained by VU SR, as well as the established contacts will help you along the path of professional career and personal life. I wish I never lost touch with my Alma Mater. You are and will be welcome at the Library!
Irena Krivienė
General Director of VU Library
Ombudswoman for academic ethics and procedures
Dear students,
You persistently, actively and consistently promote adherence to the principles of academic ethics and thus contribute to the quality of studies. You bring innovations that comprehensively change the culture of academic ethics. Academic ethics is especially fostered through direct education and talking to the academic community. Invitation for students to take a more active interest in the specific course "Academic Ethics", preparation of methodological material, openness to consultations and other initiatives are some examples when your involvement is significant. The most important thing is to move forward creatively and boldly – this is how changes in the Lithuanian study and science system become possible.
I appreciate your contribution and invite you to work together towards international standards of academic ethics.
Unitedly For the Future of Students!
Ombudswoman for academic ethics and procedures
dr. Loreta Tauginienė
Vilnius City Municipality
Dear students,
The first steps of your independent life are once again tested by complex challenges. The restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic have been replaced by a confrontation with the shocking Russian aggression.
And here society especially needs your positivity, courage and, most importantly, real involvement. Share information, explain to the doubters, create the state and the future in which you want to live.
And Vilnius will always be yours – established after studying or deciding to look abroad after studying. We look forward to coming back.
Mayor of Vilnius
Remigijus Šimašius
Knowledge Economy Forum
VU SR,
congratulations on a year full of results! VU SR is visible and heard at the national level - funding for higher education, improving the situation of students, issues of the social dimension - no decisions are made without you. You are invited to read reports as experts. You are actively involved in the activities of the Arqus University Alliance. You are the main force pushing the University to move to a more Western model of study organization, allowing students to choose at least 60 credits on their own.
It is great to see that you've created good conditions for students to participate, and the range of PCP is expanding. It is welcome that you have started to implement a culture of reflection in the organization (although it will take time to become a reality), you have integrated a new unit from Šiauliai. And you have managed to achieve all this in the context of a pandemic that has not yet ended and the war that began a few months ago. What's more, you've been able to react quickly to a situation and offer help to those who need it most.
Last year was hard. This year has been difficult. The coming years will not be easier either. I have five tips that are necessary for VU SR to continue to grow as an organization and solve even more student problems:
Openness, responsibility, quality of performance, unity and improvement. Never forget!
Unitedly,
Arminas Varanauskas
Research Council of Lithuania
Dear students,
Thank you for your creativity, public-spirited actions, and determination to complete a broad-based university education. These are also your first steps in building the new knowledge that will contribute to our competitiveness as a country. That's also the essence of having high quality degree courses.
This year we saw an increase in funding of research and experimental (social, cultural) development. A portion of the funding is allocated to the summer research in addition to the term time projects funded by the Research Council of Lithuania. I hope it will encourage you to further engage in research and work on your expertise. I am particularly glad to see that Vilnius University students are some of the most active in these research projects.
Your never-ending determination and energy brings me joy. I hope you will treasure these qualities for the bright future of our country. Best of luck in your future endeavors, keep your energy levels high.
Gaudeamus igitur, iuvenes dum sumus!
Chairman of the Research Council of Lithuania
Prof. Romas Baronas :::