VU Rector Prof. Rimvydas Petrauskas: 'We need to become a self-confident community that strives to give to the world'

We are concluding another academic year at Vilnius University – the 447th. It is an opportunity to thank both staff and students for your work, enthusiasm, energy, and intellect that you dedicate to the University.

The various lessons that have recently been given to us by our aggressive neighbours show that we are able to react and help each other when needed – not by reproaching, but by offering advice – and to address and correct shortcomings when we see them.

As we become an increasingly international community, both in terms of students and academic staff, new practices take root in our daily academic lives, and our declared values of openness and integrity are affirmed in practice.

Something we have become accustomed to describing, perhaps rather grandly, as ‘attracting talent’ is essentially about presenting Lithuania as a place where creative people would like to come and stay, and where they see opportunities for personal and professional fulfilment. We need to become a self-confident community that strives to give to the world, because this is the only way we can expect to be relevant, valued, and competitive.

This year has shown that universities and their communities are becoming outposts of democracy, taking responsibility for maintaining and nurturing it at a time when democratic institutions are under threat across the world. By turning out in large numbers to protest, students and academic staff gave a clear signal that they care deeply about the state of democracy in our country and are prepared to speak out when they see a lack of professionalism and principled leadership.

The polycrisis, together with geopolitical and economic uncertainty, posed an even greater threat to the European Union’s ambition to respond consistently to ecological and demographic challenges. The University’s efforts to update our study programmes and individual course units to better equip students to solve complex issues represent our contribution to a sustainable future.

This academic year has also been a time when generative language models have become a part of daily life, not only for specialists or enthusiasts but essentially for everyone. The initial tension between enthusiasm and concern has given way to a rational relationship; University and faculty guidelines are used more extensively, and our understanding of the advantages and challenges has become clearer.

The academic year has been marked by the development of the new Vilnius University Strategy. We have agreed on meaningful and ambitious aims, and now our focused action will determine how well we can fulfil them.

In the field of scientific research, in addition to the development of Centres of Excellence and major international projects, it is worth highlighting areas where we are taking on the coordination of larger projects, such as the project coordinated by the Life Sciences Center, ‘From Molecules to Brain Health’, or the doctoral networking initiative coordinated by the Institute of International Relations and Political Science targeting Russian influence in Europe’s peripheral states.

The application we have submitted with 22 partners for the Horizon Europe Cancer Mission call has received top marks across all evaluation categories. The European Partnership Call Project ‘IMPULSE: Impact of Multi-System Precision Investigation in Left-Sided Heart Lesions’ by the Faculty of Medicine has been approved.

As a custom, during this event we recall the winners of Lithuanian scientific awards, this year granted to Professors Zenonas Norkus, Artūras Dubickas, Ričardas Rotomskis and Vitalijus Karabanovas, as well as Professor Artūras Petronis. Prof. Ieva Plikusienė has been awarded the prestigious Young Academy of Europe Prize.

LSC-EMBL Partnership Institute researcher, Prof. Urtė Neniškytė, has been appointed Lithuanian Ambassador of the European Research Council. A researcher at the same Partnership Institute, Dr Constantinos Patinios, earned the European Molecular Biology Organisation Laboratory Installation Grant.

The University’s leadership in developing interdisciplinary studies has finally led to the long-awaited national recognition of such studies. Were it not for the University’s successful institutional experience, an educational model that has already become well established in other European countries would likely have remained unrealised in Lithuania after almost a decade of delay.

The portfolio of international study programmes has been significantly updated: four new study programmes have been approved, two of which are joint with Arqus Alliance partners. Two of the new programmes – ‘Bioinformatics’ and ‘Multilingualism and Digital Technologies’ – are already open for enrolment this year.

We have developed and tested a comprehensive programme to build teaching competencies for the University’s new teaching staff members.

We continue to give great attention to international academic partnerships. Representatives of Vilnius University and Sorbonne University are engaged in working groups to explore the possibilities of specific activities across multiple fields of study, mobility, and doctoral studies. We are expanding our cooperation with Lancaster University, and this autumn, we will sign a strategic cooperation agreement.

Moreover, cooperation with the Sorbonne grew into a wonderful joint series of university concerts ‘Vilnius–Paris’. More than 200 students, choristers, and members of the orchestra from two universities came together for a musical project presented in Paris and later at St Johns’ Church. In this way, academic cooperation becomes a cultural norm, and our students and staff can nurture their hobbies. Just as they also do successfully in sports – this year Vilnius University topped the team cup rankings of Lithuanian universities, winning as many as 16 trophies across various sports.

We continue to strengthen the University’s visibility in the international sphere, with more than 450 mentions of Vilnius University research achievements in foreign news during this semester alone.

During this academic year, the initiatives of Vilnius University reached more than 21,500 teachers and students in 36 municipalities of Lithuania. New projects, such as the ‘Superlecture’ and ‘Superstories’, have been developed for students.

The Vilnius University Alumni Festival will take place for the third time on 19 September. This year, we would like the festival to be even more open to the entire Vilnius University community, including alumni living in Lithuania and abroad, as well as members of the Vilnius University international community.

Vilnius University is highly visible and established as a reliable source of expert insights and intellectual authority. Expert comments make up almost 40% of Vilnius University communication, while representatives of the Vilnius University community are among the most frequently quoted researchers and experts in the media.

Summer is well underway – a third of it has gone in the rhythm of exam sessions, examinations, and thesis defences, as usual. However, rest is just as important as productivity in the modern world. The ability not just to keep up the pace with the ever-increasing flow of time but also to slow it down. Long, careful analysis and critical assessment help us avoid rushing and racing, but let us slow down time also by retreating for a short time and resting.

We still have two months remaining for that. I wish everyone a good break – make use of these summer months for gatherings, quieter reflections, and perhaps inevitably finishing a task or two. Although it is sometimes said that, given the intertwining of our work and life, the word ‘vacation’ does not exist in the vocabulary of academics, let us break away and relax so we can meet at the University in September with fresh energy and motivation for the new season. 

Have a beautiful summer, and let’s meet again on 1 September.