During the meeting of the Student Parliament of VMU, the parliamentarians discussed issues relevant to students
During the meeting of the VMU Student Parliament held on February 9, the parliamentarians discussed the establishment of the VMU Social Fund, the declaration of an emergency climate situation at the university, the presentation of the reasons for the decision of the Appeals Commission, and the issues raised by doctoral students.
Žygymantas Menchenkovas introduced "Shauksmo" back in 2020-2021. the request regarding the establishment of the VDU Student Social Fund raised at the parliamentary meetings. The idea behind this fund is that it would be established by VDU Student Representation (VDU SA) from the funds available to the organization and financial support would be given to students taking into account their social and material situation. The president of VDU SA, Ieva Vengrovskaja, said that VDU SA does not have constant income that ensures the financial stability of the fund, so its establishment does not seem possible. Also, VMU ensures that social support is provided to students both in the form of permanent scholarships and one-time scholarships in the event of an unexpected situation. It was decided to postpone the issue of the establishment of the fund to the next meeting, until which the parliamentarians will have time to better familiarize themselves with the document and express their comments.
A discussion was organized in the Facebook group of the members of the VMU Student Parliament regarding the declaration of a climate emergency at the university. Discussion initiator Ž. Menchenkov suggests that the parliament seek to declare a climate emergency at the university and present a position to the university that proposes to encourage members of the community to promote an environmentally friendly lifestyle, to introduce courses on scientific fields relevant to this topic and to become an environmentally neutral university. The parliamentarians decided to assemble a working group on the issue of declaring a climate change emergency at the university. The following expressed their desire to join the working group: Žygymantas Menčenkovas, Ieva Vengrovskaja, Joana Gasiulytė, Emil Starodubov and Aistė Balazaitė.
Aurelija Ramanauskaitė presented the issue raised in several meetings of the Student Parliament regarding the improvement of doctoral students' academic English. Doctoral students are awarded 6 ECTS credits for language learning, but learning is complicated both in terms of getting into the subject, as well as the content of the subject and the learning process. A survey was conducted with 69 PhD students. Over 90 percent PhD students want to learn academic English. The need to write scientific articles in English (87% of all those who participated in the survey), the need to present presentations (81% of all those who participated in the survey) is mentioned as the basis of motivation to learn English. It can be seen from the survey that this issue is relevant and clear, so the ways of its solution will be coordinated with the university administration.
Another question, which has been continued since the last meeting of the Student Parliament, was about the scientific advisor for doctoral students. Both supervising and advising a doctoral student is paid work. The supervisor of the doctoral student is allocated 40 hours per year for working with the doctoral student. Up to 15 hours are allocated for the counseling of one doctoral student. per year. Leading up to 2021 in April 2 d. rector's order no. 154 in appendix no. 1, it is noted that the hours allocated to the consultant are deducted from the number of hours allocated to the supervisor of the doctoral student, except in cases where the doctoral student is a foreigner. During the last parliament, it was decided that the doctoral students would write their position/opinion, which they presented during this parliamentary session. The president of VDU SA said that she promised to start a discussion with the administration, expressing such a need for doctoral students. In the future, the PhD student club will be included in the discussions.
Parliamentarian Justas Ivanauskas raised the issue of presenting the reasons for the Appeals Commission's decision and the student's right to further appeal the assessment of the Appeals Commission's appeal due to procedural violations. Because he himself had submitted an appeal, which was not satisfied, and he was not informed about the reasons for dissatisfaction and where he can apply further if he does not agree with the assessment of the appeal. Therefore, J. Ivanauskas proposes to edit the existing document on the provisions of the Appeals regarding the evaluation of study results and/or settlement procedure and to add an item on informing about the appeal examination and verdict and further possible actions of the appellant. It was decided that additions to the document, taking into account the comments made, will be formulated by the Academic Affairs Committee of VMU SA and presented during the meeting of the student parliament.
Monika Ražauskaitė, the coordinator of the academic committee, is analyzing and preparing to adjust the survey of teachers' evaluation and study with the committee. Current thoughts will be shared with members of the VDU Student Parliament and hopes to receive comments on which areas can be improved.
On March 10, a festive meeting of the Student Parliament will be held, where the activity and financial report of the VMU Student Representation will be presented, and the organization's president and governing bodies will be elected. Members of Parliament are invited to participate in the meeting live, while for others the meeting will be broadcast on the Facebook account of the VDU Student Representation. The parliamentarians will discuss the current issues at the next parliamentary session to be held in April.
