The Spring festival is coming back!

May 26 The Spring Festival organized by Vytautas Magnus University’s Student Representative Council (VDU SRC) and taking place for the 22nd time will rock Unity Square. This year, the participants of the festival will have to see more, because we will celebrate Kaunas’ birthday at the same weekend, so the entertainment will not last long.

The motto of this year’s festival is “From zero to the moon”, and the theme is financial writing. At the event, you will be able to learn more about investments, loans, savings, receive entrepreneurial training, find out what insurance is and how it works, and even learn how to travel without spending a lot.

Daily bus orienteering competitions, during which you will be able to chat with various specialists in financial and business fields, such as VDU Minded, and mark your knowledge. Also, at 7 p.m. A free closing concert is held on Unity Square, during which bands such as Sepia and Begėdžiai, DJ Nevykelė, who brought new winds to music, and Angelou will crown the evening.

It will be a great opportunity to get a lot of financial writing features and useful tips, so see you on May 26th. We will have a good time together in Unity Square!

More information can be found on Facebook: https://www.d. facebook.com/events/943680316979470.

Members of the Student Parliament gathered for an extraordinary meeting

April 27 Members of the Student Parliament of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) gathered for an extraordinary parliamentary session. During it, 2 members of the VMU Student Parliament resigned, and 2 new members of the VMU Student Representation Council Board were elected.

At the beginning of the conference, item number 7 on the removal of VMU SRC Board members from the VMU SRC Board was included in the agenda. After this amendment, the agenda was unanimously approved.

Two parliamentarians (Joana Gasiulytė and Ieva Vengrovskaja) expressed their desire to leave the position of the Student Parliament for personal reasons. Their resignations were approved by consensus.

The dismissal of 2 members of the VMU Student Representation COuncil Board (Kotryna Rajeckaitė and Emilia Talutyė) was also approved by consensus.

During the meeting, the candidacies of Matas Čepurna and Lauryns Samajauskas and their letters of motivation to the VMU SRC Board were presented. After the parliamentary votes were counted, both candidates Matas Čepurna (19 for, 3 against, 3 abstentions) and Laurynas Samajauskas (21 for, 1 against, 3 abstentions) were approved for the VDU SA Board.

25 members of the parliament participated in the meeting of the VMU Student Parliament. The meeting was presided over by Monika Ražauskaitė, chairwoman of the VMU Student Parliament. Karolis Katilius, administrator of the VMU Student Representation Council, was the secretary of the meeting.

April 27 extraordinary session of parliament

April 27 at 7 p.m. an extraordinary parliamentary session of the Vytautas Magnus University Student Representation (VDU SA) will be held. During it, two members will be elected to the vacated position in the VDU SA Board.

The board is a strategic advisory management body of the Student Representative Office of Vytautas Magnus University (VDU SA), which approves the annual plan of the representative office, determines the strategic directions of the organization and carries out other activities defined by the VDU SA Work.

The desire to become members of the Board was expressed by:

Get to know the candidates in more detail and ask them tasks during the meeting.

CONFERENCE AGENDA:
1. Registration.
2. Opening of the VMU Student Parliament meeting.
3. Election of the Secretary of the meeting.
4. Election of the counting committee.
5. Adoption of the agenda.
6. Removal of Student Parliament members from the VMU Student Parliament.
Presented by: Monika Ražauskaitė
7. Presentation of the candidates for the VMU SA Board, questions and elections.
Presented by: Monika Ražauskaitė
8. Other issues
9. Closing of the VMU Student Parliament meeting.

The parliamentary session will be held in S. Daukant street. 27, in the 404th auditorium.

Join VDU SA exam monitoring. Become a volunteer observer!

Academic integrity is one of the most commonly heard phrases as we approach the reporting period. During this time VMU Students Representative Council (VMU SRC) organizes exam monitoring, where all interested students can become observers.

Academic honesty is a concept that is very often used in higher education. It is mainly based on adherence to the VMU Code of Ethics. According to Vitalija Jakubaitytė, Academic Affairs Coordinator of VMU SRC, academic dishonesty is any action during the reporting process when a student has the intention to use more than just his/her own knowledge: looking at a student’s work, using a phone, a smartwatch or any other sources of information dissemination.

By being academically dishonest, the student risks getting a debt from the course. As a result, failure to clear the debt may result in the loss of a state-funded place during the rotation and may result in the loss of the opportunity to defend the thesis in the final year of study. Such unethical behaviour may also be referred to the Ethics Committee, which, after analysing the situation, may take decisions ranging from a personal warning to expulsion from the university without right of return.

In order to support lecturers and to avoid cases of academic dishonesty, VMU SA conducts exam monitoring. Students themselves can become observers and contribute to ensuring academic integrity during the upcoming spring exam session. When asked about the importance of exam observation, the Academic Affairs Coordinator stated that “it is these observations that ensure academic integrity and make the work of lecturer-examiners easier. When there are more than a hundred students sitting in a lecture hall, it is quite logical that it is not possible to catch every single one of them, unless there are more than one or two people watching the exam. That is why we need human resources, in other words, student volunteers, who will not let a single attempt at academic dishonesty slip through their eyes.

Academic integrity is an important value of the university and the student body. “I believe that it should also be a value of every member of the academic community, because, in my opinion, it helps students to achieve the goal with which they come to higher education – the knowledge that helps them to build their future careers,” said Emilija Drabužinskaitė, President of VMU SA.

During the spring semester exam session, the exams will be monitored and volunteer student observers will help to ensure academic integrity. Every student can become one.

To become a student observer, please fill in the following form.

The deadline for filling in the form is 28 April. Registered students will be contacted personally.

If you have any questions, please contact akademai@vdusa.lt.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

The project week “schoolboy, become a student” has passed

From February 19 to 24, the Vytautas Magnus University Student Representation Council (VMU SRC) project “schoolboy, become a student” took place. Students from all over Lithuania gathered in this project had the opportunity to become students for a week – to attend lectures, stay in dormitories and get to know university life. The students not only had the opportunity to try out the study programs offered by VMU, but also after the lectures, they were delighted with the evening activities of the Student Representative Office.

The students experienced a lot during the week. Prospective students searched for an answer to the question “Who am I?”, created their goals and figured out how to achieve them, as well as students tested their strength in “Mission (Im)possible” and got acquainted with the activities of VMU SA. Project participants had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with VMU administration and the university’s possibilities in the discussion “From school to university”. He also got acquainted with academic and social affairs and other things required at the university. During the project, students participated in the “Fair of VMU Organizations”, after which they could test their knowledge by competing in a brainstorming contest. At the closing of the project, we summarized the experience at the university and expressed our wishes to each other. On the last day of the project, all project participants and organizers participated in “Freedom shines in Kaunas”. Radarom” event.

Students rejoiced at the opportunity to get to know themselves, discover new acquaintances and test themselves after becoming a student. This week provided them with a lot of invaluable knowledge and gave them a better understanding of what to expect at the end of Year 12. Student Melita Vanagaitė revealed that she realized “that the chosen specialty is really for me and I think I will achieve my goals. Of course, living in a dormitory, even for a week, made me understand that it is not as bad as it is told.” She was seconded by Ieva Stankevičiūtė, who received answers to her questions during the project and realized that “high school is not such a terrible thing and the teachers are friendly and pleasant, and given the opportunity to see student life closer, it now makes it easier to set priorities and wishes”.

The project was useful not only for the students, but also for the mentors who guided the students throughout the week. “Although I have been a student for several years now, I have learned much more than I expected by being a mentor to the participants. I gained more courage, acquaintances and allowed myself to go back to the days when I was still a schoolgirl myself. It was easy to communicate, we found a common language with the students, after a short time, I am really happy to contribute to the implementation of this project”, said Monika Ražauskaitė.

This year, 60 schoolchildren from all over Lithuania participated in the project. As many as 28 mentors helped them integrate into university life.

10 March – A new start for the VMU Students’ Representation, with the election of its president and governing bodies.

On 10 March, the Reporting-Election Conference of the Vytautas Magnus University Students’ Representation (VDU SA) was held. During the conference the annual activity, financial, Board and Audit reports were presented. The new VMU SA Board, the Audit Commission and the President of the organisation were elected.

After the conference started and the agenda was approved, VMU SA President Ieva Vengrovskaja presented her annual activity and financial reports for the last term. The conference guests and parliamentarians asked questions about the work done by the President and the team, the setbacks faced by the organisation and the new goals achieved.

The Chairperson of the Audit Commission, Joana Gasiulytė, presented the Annual Report of the Audit Commission and her comments and recommendations on the organisation’s activities, their implementation and the use of financial resources. All three reports were approved by a resolution of the Student Parliament.

For the first time, the annual report of the VMU SA Board was presented at this conference. It was presented by the Chair of the Board Solveiga Skaisgirytė. The Board is pleased that it had 17 meetings during the term of office. During the report, the following directions were presented: clarification of the Board’s activities, increasing the efficiency of the VMU Student Parliament, integration of the VMU SA Alumni, supervision of the team, amendments to the Statutes and the Rules of Procedure, and recommendations for the future Board. This report was also approved by a resolution of the Student Parliament.

After the approval of the reports, the election of the President followed. The candidate for the position of VMU SRC President, Emilija Drabužinskaitė, presented her guidelines, the future VMU SA Office and answered the students’ questions about the integration of students, the planned changes in the organisation, the integration of students into the governing bodies, the integration of foreigners, etc.

Arnoldas Borovskis, Lukas Gedvila, Gabija Paškevičiūtė, Kotryna Rajeckaitė, Emilija Talutytė, Viktorija Zaveckaitė, Gustė Žukauskauskaitė presented themselves as candidates the Management Board during the conference and answered the questions.

During this conference, the VMU SA Audit Commission was elected. Titas Zaikauskas, Rusnė Rimkevičiūtė, Toma Rasiukevičiutė, Santa Vozbutaitė, Viktorija Čepaitė, Ieva Vengrovskaja, Erika Dervinytė, Gabrielė Šturmaitė, Gabrielė Jonuškaitė.

The following were elected to the VMU SA Revision Commission after the parliamentary votes were counted. The Chairperson of the Audit Committee was Ieva Vengrovskaja.

Kotryna Rajeckaite, Arnoldas Borovskis, Viktorija Zaveckaitė, Gustė Žukauskaitė, Lukas Gedvila, Emilia Talutytė became members of the Management Board.
Emilija Drabužinskaitė was elected as the new President of VMU SA (25 for, 1 against, 7 abstentions).

33 members of the Student Parliament attended the VMU Student Representation Council report submission and the Student Parliament’s electoral meeting. The meeting was chaired by Justas Paulikas, former chairman of the Kaunas branch of the Vilnius University Student Representation Council. The secretary of the meeting was Jan Subotovič – Alumni of Klaipėda State College Student Representative Office.

You can watch the full VMU SA Reporting-Election Conference here.

March 10 the head of VDU SA and governing bodies will be elected – VDU student representation council

March 10 12 o’clock the report-election conference of the Vytautas Magnus University Student Representation (VDU SA) will be held. During it, the annual activity and financial report of VDU SA will be presented, and the elections of the president, board and audit commission of VDU SA will be held.

The Management board is the strategic advisory management body of the Student Representative Office of Vytautas Magnus University (VDU SA), which approves the annual plan of the representative office, determines the strategic directions of the organization and carries out other activities defined in the Work Regulations of VDU SA.

In 2023, the following expressed their desire to become members of the Management Board:

You will be able to get to know the candidates during the report-election conference.
During the meeting, not only the board and the president of VDU SA, but also the Audit Commission will be elected. Candidates for it will present their candidacies and will be elected during the meeting.

The audit controls the finances and activities of VDU SA. Performs organization inspections and provides their conclusions and recommendations. The commission consists of 5 members. The members of the Audit Commission are elected by the Student Parliament for a one-year term.

Conference agenda:
11:00 a.m. Registration of participants.
12:00 p.m. Opening of the report-election meeting of the Student Parliament of VDU SA.
12:10 p.m. Welcome speeches of the guests.
12:20 p.m. Confirmation of the chairman of the meeting or election of another chairman of the Conference.
12:25 p.m. Conference secretary elections.
12:30 p.m. Elections of the vote counting commission.
12:45 p.m. Approval of the agenda.
12:50 p.m. Presentation of the VDU SA activity report.
1:10 p.m. Presentation of the financial report of VDU SA.
1:30 p.m. Report of the Audit Commission of VDU SA.
1:50 p.m. Approval of the activity and financial report of VDU SA.
2:00 p.m. Approval of the report of the Audit Commission of VDU SA.
2:05 p.m. Presentation of the VDU SA Board report.
2:15 p.m. Approval of the report of the Board of VDU SA.
2:20 p.m. Intermission.
2:40 p.m. Presentation of the presidential candidate.
2:50 p.m. Question session for the candidate for the position of President.
3:05 p.m. Presentation and questions of the candidates for the Board of VDU SA.

3:20 p.m. Elections of the President and the Board.
3:40 p.m. Intermission
3:50 p.m. Presentations, questions and voting of candidates for the VDU SA revision commission.
4:10 p.m. Announcement of voting results.
4:20 p.m. Closing of the report-election meeting of the Student Parliament of VDU SA

We invite members of the VDU Student Parliament and candidates for management bodies to participate in the Conference live (VDU Mažoji salė, S. Daukanto str. 28), and everyone else to watch the live broadcast on the Facebook page of the VDU Student Representation Council.

One candidate is running to become the president of VMU SRC

On March 10, the Student Parliament of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) will gather for the report-election conference of the VMU Students’ Representative Council (SRC), during which the presidential elections of VMU SRC will take place. The application for this position was submitted by one candidate – Emilija Drabuzinskaite, Bachelor of Social Sciences.

Currently, the candidate is a 4th-year student of the psychology study program, who has been active in the VMU Student Representative Council for the fourth year and is completing her first term as Vice President and second term as coordinator of the Social Affairs Committee. She is also actively involved in student representation both at the university and national level – she is active in the VMU Senate, the VMU Student Parliament, the VMU Social Sciences Faculty Council, and the Lithuanian Student Union. When applying for this position, Emilija says that she is aware of the responsibility she is taking on, but believes that “the accumulated experience and learned lessons will help me and my team make the right decisions, continue the successful activities and change the ones that are not successful, in order to ensure the proper education of VMU students voice!’

E. Drabužinskaitė, taking into account the changes in the higher education system in recent years, has set 15 goals in the operational guidelines, with which she promises to achieve high-quality representation of VMU students. The goals set include various areas: academic integrity, foreign students with individual needs, improvement of the representative system, optimization of the organization’s human resources, and other areas.

Emilia’s operational guidelines and motivational letter.

March 2 6 p.m. there will be an interview with the candidate in the foyer of the VMU Great Hall (28 S. Daukanto Street), during which she will be able to talk about her ideas and goals in more detail and answer the students’ questions.

The President of the Students’ Representatives Council of Vytautas Magnus University is the head of the organization, who is responsible for what is happening inside and outside the Representation. He represents all students of the University at the meetings of the University Rectorate, VMU Council with the right to vote, represents VMU students in the Lithuanian Students’ Union and performs other functions provided for in the Statutes of VMU SRC.

Ieva Vengrovskaja: the presidency is like a roller coaster, you never know what will happen next

With the electoral report of Vytautas Magnus university Students Representative Council on March 10^th getting closer, a question of who will take over the helm of the organization this year arises. In order to encourage and inspire students to run for the position of president, current president of VMU SRC Ieva Vengrovskaja happily shares her know-hows, advice and experiences in managing the organization and directly representing students.

How do you feel at the end of your second cadency and looking back at past year’s work?

I feel sad, but also happy. When I look back at past two years, it feels sad reaching the end of my term as the president, but I’m also glad about how much we have done. A lot has happened in the world in those two years – a pandemic, a war – which has created a lot of challenges that had to be addressed here and now, a lot of things that had to be dealt with impromptu.

What was your biggest fear before becoming president of VMU SRC?

Before I started my first term, I was afraid that I wasn’t the right person to do everything, that I wouldn’t understand how to properly convey and represent the views of the majority of students and constitute them properly. I was afraid that I did not have enough knowledge and I was not cut out for this position. I set big goals before my first term, and when I went into my second term I thought “what I couldn’t do in one year, I will do in the second“. I was afraid that I would run out of time and, unfortunately, I did. Not as much has been done as I wanted.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced as president?

We became used to be working online, which I think saved me in my first term, but in my second term I realized that I am attached to this position and to these activities and to Kaunas itself. Meetings, conferences, it’s hard to plan your time for the future because you don’t know what’s coming tomorrow. Another challenge is to stand for the opinion that is the majority opinion even if I didn’t completely agree with it. It was difficult to delegate tasks, to involve the active students around me, not to leave everything to myself, because it’s not efficient, but over time it became a routine.

Which direction of VMU SRC activities and the work done during your presidency are you most pleased with?

I really wanted us to have our own system of representatives, to organize training, to educate them more. I have seen how many students there are in the university who are not part of the Student Representative council, but they care about the university and the welfare of the students, because they can be elders, they can come to the curriculum committee, they can be on the faculty council. I think that is where we have laid a great foundation. Now, VMU students are more involved in certain bodies, they participate, they speak, they get involved, but there is still a lot of consistent work to be done in this area.

What goals were not reached this year?

A bunch. There are many such areas and activities. What I remember now is that the incentive scholarships could not be raised, of course they went up, but not because of VMU SRC, but because of the increase in basic social benefit (BSI) size. The other thing that has not been achieved is that PhD students have their own specialized English language, which is only for postgraduate students, and that they would have a thesis adviser or a research adviser, someone to help them as a guide. All this has been discussed with the Vice-Rector of Education, the Education Department and the Institute of Foreign Languages.

What is your favourite presidential function, event or anything that comes to mind?

As I mentioned earlier that it is difficult when you cannot plan your time ahead, but it seems to me that this is the best specificity of the job of president. You have an insane amount of things you can do, there seems to be no limit. It is an interesting year when every time you get a call at 8 in the morning, you don’t know whether it is a courier delivering a parcel, or a student with a problem, or the Ministry of education, science and sports for a conference, or the university administration for an upcoming meeting, or an important issue. It’s like a roller coaster, you never know what’s going to happen next.

What are the pathways that university positions within and/or outside the university open up?

It seems to me that when you choose something, you give something up, and that’s true for everything in life. So in this place, too, when you run for student president possition, you are taking responsibility and you are also giving up something. You don’t go unnoticed as a student, you have to weigh and evaluate what you say and how you say it more than you have done before when you speak, when you express an opinion. But what this position opens up the most is the people – new competences when you work with them, more friendships are made that last well into the future.

The election of the new President of VMU SRC is approaching. What would you wish for the person who would like to fill this position?

First of all, I would like to wish for at least two candidates and for democracy to take place. I wish to have more contact with student representatives, to go to meetings and to have contact with students outside the Student Representative Council. At the same time, I would like to wish that person to stand by their decision all the way to the end – if you and your team make a decision on an issue that is important for students, stand by that opinion all the way to the end. You cannot decide halfway through a discussion or a meeting that “no, that’s it, it doesn’t matter, it’s too hard, we don’t agree, we give up”. If it is important, you have to stand up to it, if it is not, you have to be flexible, which is a very necessary quality for this position.

The presidency is a great opportunity to try out for the leadership position, learn how to lead a team, persevere, be flexible and organise your work with time management. If you want to run for the presidency, you must submit your application form, a motivational letter and guidelines of your activities by 17^th of February at 5:00 pm to the VMU SRC Board at valdyba@vdusa.lt.

Members of the VMU Student Parliament discussed current issues

January 26 members of the Student Parliament of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) gathered for a remote meeting. During it, the training for parliamentarians, the solution of the problems raised during the previous meeting and the participation of VMU students in the meetings of the VMU Council were discussed.

Monika Ražauskaitė, chairwoman of the Student Parliament, presented the idea of organizing training. Which would be intended for parliamentarians to familiarize themselves with university documents and the preparation of documents. Andrius Šmitas said that for doctoral students, such training as last year is not useful, since the regulation is not relevant in doctoral studies. The date of the training will be agreed between the parliamentarians.

Ieva, the president of the VMU Student Representation (SRC), presented the solution to the problems raised during the first parliamentary session. One of the points raised is the unclear assessment of settlements. According to VMU Regulations, in the first lectures, the teacher must introduce the value of each settlement, so students have the right to request this information when the lectures begin. Regarding the issue of teachers’ competences, Ieva is happy that in the autumn semester, students quite actively filled out the teaching and studying questionnaire and expressed their opinion about the teachers. The evaluations of the questionnaires are reviewed by the university administration and appropriate action is taken if poor evaluations are found. The problem regarding the alignment of the instruments of the Academy of Music has been forwarded to the dean of the academy, who promised to take it into account when planning this year’s activities and finances.

Another issue presented by the president is about the participation of student representatives in VMU Council meetings. It is the highest body of the university, which approves the activity plan, finances and is accountable to the rector and other bodies. There are two student representatives in this body: the president of VMU SRC and the student delegate Kęstutis Jasiulevičius. According to the work regulations of the body, any community member approved by the council can attend the meetings. Now it is desired to regulate access to the meeting. There are two options: one, that those who want to participate can come to watch the meeting without registration, the other, that they should register before the meeting, introduce themselves and share their motivation for participation. The parliamentarians supported the latter option.

March 10 the VMU SRC election-report conference will be held, during which the activity and financial report of the VMU SRC will be presented and the new president(s) will be elected.