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.