22 savaitės ir 22 VDU SA darbai - VDU Studentų atstovybė

After the election of the president of the Vytautas Magnus University Student Representative Office (VDU SA), more than five months passed, which were full of a variety of work, from editing various documents related to study conditions and involvement in working groups to organizing the Spring Festival and raising the competencies of members. Elected for the second term, Ieva Vengrovskaja and the team she assembled share the most important work done in 22 weeks, which continue the long-term activities of the organization and achieve new goals.

Ieva's main goal for this term is to continue to ensure the improvement of the quality of VMU studies (responding to the needs of students) and to improve the study conditions for university students. In order to achieve this, the members of the organization fostered a culture of academic honesty, got involved in the editing of university documents and represented the opinion of students in VMU's governing bodies.

1. In order to promote the culture of academic honesty, during the spring semester VDU SA initiated examination monitoring. 19 trained volunteer student observers participated in 12 exams. Fortunately or unfortunately, only one cheating student was caught, who was stopped from writing the exam and recorded a zero on the final report.

2. The Committee of Academic Affairs continues editing the description of the procedure for the organization and execution of examinations in order to ensure that all settlements at VMU are carried out in the same order and under the same conditions for students. Also under repair VMU Code of Academic Ethics, to which Ieva and Representative Coordinator Monika contribute. The president shares that the aim is to make it closer to all members of the community, especially students. By updating the existing code, we would like every student to be able to understand the document and apply it in their daily life.

3. During the meeting of the Students' Parliament, proposed amendments to the provisions of the Appeals regarding the assessment of study results and/or settlement procedure were presented and approved by the parliament. They aim to ensure that the appellant receives a reasonable answer if the appeal is not satisfied, and also that the commission can provide him with suggestions on where to turn to resolve the situation.

4. Participated in the meetings of the Appellate Commission. During the spring semester, students submitted more than 10 appeals. "We notice that students often lack arguments or evidence, which is why appeals are more often rejected," shares Monika.

5. Participated in five meetings of the Disputes Commission. During them, conflicts between teachers and students were resolved.

6. Along with 11 student senators, VMU is also represented in the Senate. Students continue to ensure that there are student representatives in all existing and new bodies and commissions of VMU, the results of the teaching and studying evaluation questionnaire continue to be monitored during the certification of teachers, and students' opinions are also expressed regarding study programs and study subjects newly launched at VMU, we are glad that the compilers considers all comments.

7. Participated in VMU Rectorate and Council meetings. In the latter, together with other members of the Council, the VMU budget was revised. Ieva shares that it was important to understand how, due to the split situations in the country and the world and rising prices, the next year's budget will be planned and to try to minimize the consequences for the student.

8. VDU SA is involved in various discussions and working groups of the University, which deal with issues relevant to the student: regarding student dropout at VDU (it discusses the use of a tool that would ensure the monitoring of a student from the moment he enters higher education, and not only when the student is on the verge of dropping out, creation), for the philosophy program and/or subject (the goal is to keep philosophy as attractive as possible to the modern student, both in terms of content and form), for computer literacy (with the goal that both the test itself and the taught subject are relevant to the students' needs ), regarding the more precise regulation of VMU study forms (in order that a student enrolled in one form of study should have it as such - distance, hybrid or contact studies).

9. A meeting was organized with student representatives and all students. It discussed all the previously mentioned issues in order to better understand the students' opinions and talked about the spring semester and the coming academic year.

10. Two dormitories were inspected in the spring. They are intended to ensure compliance with the order in the dormitories and to identify defects. During the inspections, 16 fines were issued in March, and 12 in May. Emilija, coordinator of the Social Affairs Committee, is pleased with the decreasing number of fines, "it shows that the situation is improving and there are less and less discrepancies or violations."

11. 2 meetings were held with the Ukrainian community in dormitory 7 regarding the provision of possible assistance and agreement on living conditions.

12. The update of the VDU Dormitory Room Inspection Procedure Description has been started, with the aim that the document meets the needs of the current resident, is used and clearly understood.

VMU SA's mission includes representing VMU students at the national and international levels. President Ieva, Emilija and academic affairs committee coordinator Gustė were actively involved in the activities of the student movement outside the university.

13. Involved in the activities of the Lithuanian Student Union (LSS) and organized working groups. At LSS Council meetings, Ieva raised questions about the situation of Ukrainian students and the organization's financial situation and lack of external funding. Involved in the LSS working group on the Membership Strategy, which will be used as a support tool, so that in the future every LSS member - self-government can meet the minimum membership requirements.

14. Emilija, together with LSS Social and Academic Affairs Manager Joana Jasilionyte, worked on Quality standard guidelines for dormitories creation. They are intended for all higher education institutions to unify the system of accommodation services, review the quality of their services, analyze problems and make changes in this area.

15. Representation of students in the European University Alliance Transfrom4Europe (T4E). At the beginning of May, a meeting of the European University Alliance was held in Poland, in which VMU student representatives (Gustė Žukauskaitė, Ieva Vengrovskaja and Tetiana Ponomarenko) participated. The current situation of the alliance, the expansion of student opportunities and future plans were discussed. A new member - the Ukrainian Higher School - was also welcomed, and the possibilities of the alliance to help Ukrainians were discussed.

The organization also takes care of students' cultural well-being, seeks to promote their civic awareness and nurtures traditions. The Committee for Organizational Affairs and the entire VDU SA, in carrying out various activities, aim to foster community spirit in the higher education institution, take care of students' free time and integration into the university community.

16. The Social Affairs Committee organized a blood donation drive and collection of material support for the residents of Ukraine in order to promote student citizenship and invite others to notice.

17. VDU Spring Festival was organized. This year, he called for bursting the bubbles of false information around us in the promotional event "Freedom for the Soul Daužo", discussions, the closing concert and other activities that can be remembered by watching the 21st Spring Festival aftermovie.

18. The project "Student, be a student" has been revived. In the project that took place on April 3-9, about 40 students from various Lithuanian schools gathered to try out student life, the study program of interest and get to know VDU and VDU SA.

19. 15 sponsors were found for the events organized by VDU SA, a long-term cooperation agreement was signed with the Kaunas Arena, and partnerships with various companies are continuing. You can find discounts and offers from partners on the Facebook page VDU - I take a discount.

During these months, VDU SA paid attention not only to work related to the improvement of studies and representation of students' interests, but also to the organization and development of its members.

20. Participated in the Grand training cycle organized by LSS members. During the trainings in different areas, the members of the representative office acquired useful knowledge for further activities in the organization and had the opportunity to get to know the members of other municipalities and share their experiences.

21. Sharing knowledge by organizing and conducting lectures in training. VDU SA organized two Grand trainings - Grand RsV, in which 7 members of local governments raised their competences in the field of communication and, together with LSU (Lithuanian Sport University) SA, held GrandProject trainings aimed at deepening project writing and management. Also, Emilija and Ieva conducted trainings for members of other municipalities, respectively - about social guarantees for working students and student initiative in non-governmental organizations.

22. Constant efforts are made to support the well-being, growth and motivation of the members of the organization. The Human Resources Committee organized movie nights, informal outings to strengthen the bond between members and alumni of the organization. Also, he conducted motivational talks with members and nurtured the long-standing traditions of the organization.

Having left behind another half-year full of activities, the president jokes that when running for a second term, she realized that it would not be easier. She is happy with the results achieved and "the activities of this organization, each of its members who dedicates a lot of their time to this voluntary activity, thus growing themselves, growing the organization and acting in the name of the student, meanwhile - in the name of themselves." Ieva hopes that the new autumn, new students will bring new challenges, opportunities and strengths, to achieve or at least start work in those areas where we have yet to advance with difficulty.