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On 10 March in Vilnius, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, in cooperation with the European Commission, organised the European Humanities University’s high-level Donors Conference, which was dedicated to the European Humanities University’s 10th anniversary in Lithuania.

The conference was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Tibor Navracsics, the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaorálek, the Chairman of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Hans-Gert Poettering, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Väino Reinart, the Parliamentary State Secretary for EU Affairs of the Latvian Foreign Ministry Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, representatives of other member states of the EU, the U.S.A., international foundations and organizations, members of the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania, officials of Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, and members of the academic community of the European Humanities University.

The participants of the conference discussed the University’s role in and its significance for the training of experts in the Eastern Neighbourhood, also the University’s vision and plans for the future to more closely integrate with the Lithuanian and international academic community. Long-term and new EHU donors vowed financial support for the University, highlighting the importance of this unique, transatlantic project aiming for the promotion of democracy in today’s context of geopolitical events in Eastern Europe.

The Speaker of the Seimas Loreta Graužinienė welcomed the participants of the conference. When thanking the donors for their strong support for EHU since its establishment in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Linkevičius assured them that Lithuania would continue to actively participate in this international project.

“We hope that thanks to the joint effort of the European Commission, the United States, the Northern European countries and other donors, not only the European Humanities University will continue its mission of educating individuals who will be critical thinkers, creative, responsible personalities, professionals in their field, and competent members of civil society, but who will also successfully contribute to the advancement of Europe’s relations with Belarus and other Eastern neighbours,” said Linkevičius.

The participants of the conference visited the European Humanities University’s premises in Valakupiai, where they met with students and teachers, as well as toured the University’s new premises in the Old Town of Vilnius.

The European Humanities University was founded in Minsk in 1992. For more than a decade EHU was the only non-governmental institution of higher education in Belarus that had been recognised as a University by the Belarusian state. In the summer of 2004, the Government of Belarus forced EHU to cease operations in Minsk. Thanks to the political will of the Government of Lithuania, the European Commission, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Governments of other countries, public funds and organizations, the University re-opened in Vilnius, where it has been operating since 2005. In February 2006, the Government of Lithuania granted EHU official status of a Lithuanian University. 1,468 students graduated from EHU based in Vilnius (about 800 graduates have acquired diplomas in Minsk).

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