On the 27th of October, representatives of students’ associations of various higher education institutions have gathered in KTU Santaka Valley for “The Ungoogleable” conference. During this event they were given the opportunity to discuss and look for solutions to problems in the current higher education system. The aim of the conference is to provide a platform for different students’ associations to share their experience and contribute to the planning of the course of action to be taken to eliminate the problems discussed.
The conference was opened with a welcome speech by the President of KTU SA, Augustinas Laimonas Bytautas, followed by a discussion, moderated by the former Academic Processes Coordinator of the KTU SA Central Bureau, Aurelija Valantonytė. The structure of the discussion was based on the World Café Method, consisting of five different discussion topics and their moderators, and five groups of people moving to discuss a new topic after a set amount of time, that way participating in discussing every topic. The topics of this year’s conference were study quality, students’ psychological wellbeing, and integration of foreign students into the higher education culture.
The productive discussion session was followed by a lunch break, during which the participants discussed the topics and their possible implementation in their respective higher education institutions in an even broader sense, sharing their experiences.
After the lunch break the participants returned to KTU Santaka Valley for the discussion “Should students give to their university, or universities give to their students?”, moderated by the President of VU SR, Klaudijus Melys. The speakers in this discussion were Saulė Mačiukaitė-Žvinienė, who was the Advisor to the Former President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė; Advisor to the Minister of Education, Science and Sport, Andrius Zalitis; and the President of VGTU Students’ Representation, Dominykas Tvaska. They spoke of the relationship between the student and the higher education institution and its’ problems. The participants of the conference were also given the opportunity to ask the speakers some questions through the sli.do platform.
“The Ungoogleable” conference was attended by the members of KTU Students’ Association, and guests from VGTU SA, VIKO SA, VU SR, and more.
