Student Parliament meeting: what decisions were made
On the 11th of October, Vytautas Magnus University’s (VMU) students were invited to the Faculty of Economics and Management, where the open meeting of the VMU Parliament was taking place. During the meeting, the project of the Student Representatives’ Council’s regulations and the student representatives of the VMU Faculty Councils were approved. Moreover, the results of the researches carried out by the Student Representatives’ Council (SRC) were presented: Student Representatives Council’s image survey and assessment of VMU study conditions in Vilnius.
The VMU SRC regulations project was approved unanimously. Also, all the members of the parliament agreed that Vesta Matulaitytė and Paulius Vaitiekus will represent the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Greta Kuliešiūtė and Tomas Kaminskas – the Faculty of Arts, and the council of the Botanical garden will be represented by P. Vaitiekus as well. Furthermore, it was approved that P. Vaitiekus will represent students in Students Representatives’ dispute commission and Greta Šmaižytė will represent in Academic funds council.
The VDU SRC image survey was also analyzed during the meeting. Its results showed that students lack information about Student Representatives, VDU SRC decisions and their action plan. Also, there were not many students who fully trusted SRC in helping them. To solve these issues a dedicated working group will be set up, which will include not only the selected members of the SRC but also motivated and competent university students. The working group will concentrate on existing problems as well as ways to solve them.
Another presentation was “Evaluation of the VMU Study Conditions in Vilnius”. Students who have been questioned have noticed critical social issues, such as lack of cultural events and other after-lecture activities and lack of recreational resting areas as well. Internet connection interruptions and faulty infrastructure were also noted. Higher scores were given to the points concerning academic aspects, but a significant part of the respondents have noticed that it may sometimes be difficult to access study material or make an efficient lecture’s schedule. VMU SRC has said that after getting the survey’s results, there were meetings with Studies Department and Student affairs department in order to solve these problems and ensure high- quality education for the students in Vilnius.
The president of the VMU SRC has commented after the meeting that “The Student Parliament – the main governing body of VMU SR has been discussing today’s most relevant and important issues for the organization. I am delighted that we have not only one and not two active and critically thinking people in our self-government, which allows us to move forward. Today’s decisions will contribute to the development of both the organization and the development of students as a whole.”
Parliamentary sessions are open to the entire community of the university. Another meeting is planned to be held at the beginning of December. Also, the parliamentary elections are approaching, in which students will not only have the opportunity to vote for the selected candidates but also become the candidates to join the parliament too.