Assoc. Prof. Giedrius Romeika, the Dean of Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty, Assoc. Prof. Kęstutis Driaunys, the former Dean, and Prof. Dr Virginija Jurėnienė were awarded certificates of appreciation by the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Rector of the National University of Food Technologies for active cooperation in study and research activities to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the establishment of the National University of Food Technologies. The certificates were awarded by University Professor Svitlana Gutkevych.
It is not the first time Prof. Dr Svitlana Gutkevych, the Head of the International Economics Department at National University of Food Technology, is visiting Kaunas Faculty. Cooperation with the Ukrainian academic community was initiated 12 years ago by Virginija Jurėnienė, the professor at the Institute of Social Sciences and Applies Informatics in Kaunas Faculty.
“Over the past few years, our cooperation has been challenged by the ongoing war. We overcome them through mutual respect, trust and support for each other. Together we grow stronger, and together we will go on to victory and much further, because we have common dreams, ideas and plans for many years to come,” says Assoc. Prof. Giedrius Romeika, the Dean of Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty.
Joint work speaks for itself
Cooperation started in 2011 with the winning of EU 7BP project (“Pro-ecological restructuring for job” (PRORES), Project Agreement No. PIRSESGA-2010-269251). Project participants: higher education institutions in Poland (University of Szczecin), Lithuania (Vilnius University, Kaunas Faculty of Humanities) and Ukraine (Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and National University of Food Technologies). The main coordinator of the project was the University of Szczecin, Poland, and the project leader was Habil. Prof. Tomasz Bernat, the Head of the Department of Microeconomics at the Faculty of Economics and Management. In Lithuania, project activities were coordinated by VU KHF scientist Prof. Dr Virginija Jurėnienė. Under the project, 2 international conferences were organised, and 3 monographs were produced and published. The project was successfully implemented and the cooperation that began continues even today.
“One of the success stories of this project was the development of a joint study programme "Business Information Systems" with the National University of Food Technologies in Ukraine. In 2016, seven Master's graduates were the first to receive their diplomas at Kaunas Faculty. They were awarded diplomas from both universities. Six more Ukrainians have subsequently graduated from this programme at the Faculty. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic has led to the suspension of the programme,” says Assoc. Prof. Kęstutis Driaunys.
Later on, three more „Horizont“ project proposals and two project proposals under the Lithuania-Ukraine bilateral cooperation programme in science and technology were developed, and two textbooks were published. Researchers from both institutions continue to participate willingly in mutual scientific events.
Relationships remain unbroken
It is worth noting that initial research cooperation developed into student exchanges. During the spring semester from 2013 to 2020, for a duration of 1-2 weeks each year, students from the Management and Economics faculties at NUFT would come to Kaunas Faculty to participate in lectures and projects. A recent major project in this field is the LMT Student Summer Research Projects. In 2023, two students from NUFT won projects in this field and had successful internships at Kaunas Faculty.
“Ukrainians, first of all, are very hospitable and friendly people, from whom I felt attention, care and safety everywhere. I also noticed their responsibility and initiative. At the time, it sometimes seemed to me that it did not make sense to devote so much time and attention to meetings, but I especially appreciate it now, because the foundations of friendship and understanding were laid then,” Prof. Dr Virginija Jurėnienė talks about her first visit to Kyiv.
Prof. Dr Virginija Jurėnienė and PhD student Ugnė Pavlovaitė give free lecture series at NUFT from 2020.
Prof. Dr Svetlana Gutkevič and Dr Pavlo Sydorenko worked at Kaunas Faculty in 2023. They prepared and published the monograph "Education. Tourism: A Conceptual Approach".
Currently, 61 Ukrainians are enrolled at the Faculty, and in September, as has become common practice, we expect to welcome first-year students from Ukraine.
It should be reminded that Vilnius University invites you to support Ukraine: https://www.vu.lt/en/support-to-ukraine