Parliamentarians meet for the last sitting of the current parliamentary term
On 28 September, members of the Sudentai Parliament of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) gathered for the last parliamentary meeting of the current term of office. The parliamentarians were presented with the results of a study on how to improve the parliament’s activities and drafts of changes to the documents of the VMU Students’ Representation (SA). Members of the Senate and a member of the VMU SA Board were elected.
Once the meeting started and the agenda was approved, the Chair of the VMU Student Parliament Monika Ražauskaitė presented the resignation of a Board member from the position of the VMU SA Board. The parliamentarians present voted to approve this request (24 in favour, 1 abstention).
After the vote, Solveiga Skaisgirytė, a candidate for the VMU SA Board, introduced herself and answered the questions. A remote voting was then organised and the nomination was unanimously approved.
Later, the Chairperson of the Student Parliament of VMU briefly presented the motivation letters of the candidates for the VMU Senate and the parliamentarians decided to nominate Vitalija Jakubaitytė and Ernesta Čirvinskaitė to the VMU Senate by remote voting.
The next item was on the Provisional Procedures for the Election of the VMU Students’ Parliament. VMU SA President Emilija Drabužinskaitė presented this document. It was decided by consensus that the next elections to the VMU Student Parliament will be organised in accordance with the interim procedure. A draft of the permanent procedure for the elections of the Student Parliament of the VMU was also presented. This document is being prepared with the aim of ensuring that the elections are held in the same way every year and that the procedure does not have to be re-approved every year.
During the VMU Student Parliament meeting, Lukas Gedvila, a member of the VMU SA Board, presented the results of the survey conducted in the summer to improve the performance of the VMU Student Parliament. The Performance Improvement Plan was also presented. Step by step how it is imagined that everything should happen.
It is proposed that, once the new Parliament is elected, a pilot system will be set up, with parliamentarians divided into individual committees and their areas of activity. This presentation was followed by a question session in which parliamentarians wondered whether the pilot plan was being drawn up too hastily. When do they think it will be realistic to assess whether such a model will work? And when would they recommend a similar study to be repeated? During the discussion, it was decided that if it is found that the model does not work, it will be attempted to improve the model, and if the model works, it can be formally endorsed, or not, at the next Electoral Reporting Conference.
The meeting also saw the presentation of the updates to the VMU SA Statutes and draft Rules of Procedure. It was mentioned that the tasks and objectives have been replenished in line with the current activities. The structure of the documents was also slightly changed to make them more user-friendly.
