The University of Education and Vytautas the Great University hope to merge by the end of the year

Vytautas the Great University (VDU) and Lithuanian University of Education (LEU) hope to merge by the end of 2017.

This was reported by representatives of both universities who visited Seimas Speaker Viktoras Pranckietis on Thursday. According to LEU council chairman Henrikos Juškevičius, the details of the merger will be clear before this year's accession.

"There will be one university and it will be clear where one enters and what one will graduate from." And how else will you attract students? They must know where they stand", H. Juškevičius told journalists after the meeting.

According to him, after the merger, the higher education institution should be called Vytautas the Great University, and one council will remain. According to him, the Speaker of the Seimas promised support to cover the costs of the merger.

"I believe that today we finally agreed that the bridge should not be built along the river, but across the river (...). Political will was needed and I am very happy that today the Speaker of the Seimas very clearly said that the Seimas will support it," said H. Juškevičius.

In his turn, outgoing President Valdas Adamkus, who presides over the VMU Council, said that the merger of the universities will improve the training of pedagogues in the country.

"It seems to me that we are already lagging behind in terms of pedagogical development and achievements, and the preparation of specialists, probably by a whole decade. This gap is felt and I believe that we will make a really big step right away, not one step at a time", said V.Adamkus.

V.Pranckietis said that the universities are asking for small financial support for the merger and the Seimas, as the founder, could allocate it.

"We didn't promise them anything, but we agreed that they make an accurate plan, write down the financial justification of that plan, and if they say - 5 million. or 10 million euros and those are still spread over several years, from the point of view of the state or from the point of view of the university budget, this is really very modest money (…). This is not a (financial) incentive (link), this is just helping to pass those costs on to the universities. They cannot cover everything themselves. Let's say, if there were fewer people, then severance pay should be paid, and if we, as the founder, invite universities to merge, then we, as the founder, have to help survive that merger. In this case, such costs. Perhaps a laboratory will need to be additionally equipped, because we are going to the quality of studies", explained the Speaker of the Seimas.

The current LEU was founded in 1935 by the decision of the Government of Lithuania, it was the first higher pedagogical school - a two-year pedagogical institute in Klaipėda. His task was to train teachers for the reformed primary school and to develop pedagogical sciences in Lithuania. In March 1939, after Germany captured the Klaipėda region, the institute was evacuated to Panevėžys, and in the fall of the same year, when Lithuania regained Vilnius, it was moved to the capital and named the Vilnius Pedagogical Institute. In 1992, it was granted university status. In 2011, its name was changed to the Lithuanian University of Education.

VDU was established in 1922 in Kaunas, then this higher education institution was called the University of Lithuania, in 1930 it was given the name of Vytautas the Great. In 1950, the university was closed by the Soviet authorities, and in 1989, it was restored by the joint efforts of Lithuanian and Lithuanian scientists from abroad.

Source: http://www.bns.lt