Press release, 26 February 2013
Vydas Gedvilas, Speaker of the Seimas, met with Eva Egron-Polak, Secretary General of the International Association of Universities (IAU), and discussed the role of higher education for nations, ways to improve the quality of higher education and future prospects of public universities.
Vydas Gedvilas, Eva Egron-Polak, Alvydas Pumputis and Rimas Varkulevičius. Photography by Olga Posaškova
The Speaker of the Seimas said that Lithuania would make every effort to ensure the competitiveness and attractiveness of higher education for both local and foreign students.
Mr Gedvilas emphasises that we must be prepared for new challenges related to global demographic changes and dashing globalisation processes. “Lithuania is prepared to support public universities as much as the government can afford and those universities have to be autonomous and independent. We want public universities to be strong and competitive nationally as well as internationally”, the Speaker of the Seimas says.
In terms of quality, Lithuanian universities make a good impression on Ms Egron-Polak, one of the heads of the Association established under the auspices of UNESCO in Paris. She says she is glad that the universities initiate quality assessment independently; still the Secretary General stressed the necessity to raise the profile of Lithuanian universities and make them better known. In response to the comment made by the guest, the Speaker of the Seimas draws her attention to the fact that we will have a wonderful opportunity to raise the profile our country and present our culture and history during the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The meeting was also attended by Professor Alvydas Pumputis, Rector of Mykolas Romeris University and Rimas Varkulevičius, Chairman of the Council of Mykolas Romeris University.
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Eva Egron-Polak studied in the Czech Republic, Canada and France. Prior to becoming the Secretary General of IAU in 2002, she served in various senior positions at the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) for almost 20 years. She is a member of many committees at UNESCO, the European Commission, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and serves as a board member at Mykolas Romeris University. Ms Egron-Polak has published a number of articles on higher education and its internationalisation.
Rimas Rudaitis, Public Relations Unit, tel: +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]
