Student parliament meeting: what decisions were made?

On October 11, Vytautas Magnus University (VDU) students were invited to an open meeting of the VDU parliament, where the draft of the Student Representation (SA) statutes, student representatives of the VDU faculty councils were approved, and research on the image of the VDU SA and VDU study conditions in Vilnius was presented.

The draft statutes of VDU SA were approved unanimously. It was also approved by the approval of all members of parliament that Vesta Matulaitytė and Paulius Vaitiekus will represent students on the Faculty of Natural Sciences (GMF) council, Greta Kuliešiūtė and Tomas Kaminskas on the Faculty of Arts (MF) council, and P. Vaitiekus on the Botanical Garden council. In addition, it was confirmed that P. Vaitiekus will be the student representative in the dispute commission, and Greta Šmaižytė will represent the students in the science fund council.

The study of the image of VDU SA was also presented at the meeting. Its results showed that students lack information about student representatives, VDU SA activities and decisions, and trust organization. To solve these issues, a working group will be created, which will consist not only of members of the representative office, but also of motivated and competent university students. The working group must discuss the existing problems and present their solutions during the next parliamentary session.

The VMU parliamentarians were also presented with an assessment of VMU study conditions in Vilnius. The students who participated in the study indicated that they face various social problems, that they lack recreation areas in the university spaces, events and activities that they could engage in after lectures. Respondents also cited poor internet connection performance and infrastructure deficiencies. Higher scores were given to the academic aspects, but a considerable number noticed that it is sometimes difficult to get study materials or make a convenient study schedule. The VDU SA office indicated that after receiving the research data, meetings were organized with the Department of Student Affairs and the Department of Studies in order to resolve these issues.

"Students' Parliament - the most important governing body of the VDU SA discussed very relevant and important issues for the organization today - said the president of the VDU SA G. Šmaižytė. - I am glad that we have not one or two active and critical thinking persons in our municipality, thanks to which we can move forward. The decisions made today will contribute both to the organization and to fostering the development of students as a whole."

Parliament meetings are open to the entire university community. The next meeting of the VDU parliament is scheduled for the beginning of December. Elections for members of parliament are also approaching, where students will have the opportunity not only to vote for the proposed candidates, but also to raise their own candidacy.