During the 21st to 23rd of June, Lithuanian National Union of Students (LSS) organised a training session “Lead”, designed for the presidents and several particularly active members of student associations in Lithuania. In this training KTU SA was represented by the president Augustinas Laimonas Bytautas, as well as an additionally chosen participant, KTU SA Quality Management coordinator Samanta Bulovaitė.
Presentation and analysis of strategies of student associations were one of the main parts of this training. Participants presented the strategies and goals of their respective student associations, discussed their relevance and fulfilment. This was followed by a discussion about the meaning and importance of this tool in student associations. KTU SA strategy of 2020 was also presented during the training.
One of the days of this training was dedicated to simulation and generation of ideas related to higher education. On Saturday participants were divided into three groups, in which they were generating potential answers to current issues related to higher education. Each group had to focus on one of the three fields: incentive scholarships, tuition fees for students who do not receive State funding, and free-of-charge bachelor’s studies. Augustinas discussed the issue of incentive scholarships, while Samanta generated ideas regarding the concept of free bachelor’s studies within her group.
Outside of their specific fields of discussion, groups also had to solve some additional simulated problems with the help of the “representatives” of the Lithuanian University Rectors’ Conference, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, and other institutions. These roles were played by the members of the LSS office.
“It was a fantastic experience not only because Samanta and I had the opportunity to look for and discuss potential answers to some problems of the higher education system, but also because we got a chance to establish contact with the LSS Council and discuss important concerns and questions in an informal setting.” commented the KTU SA president after the training.
The “Lead” training has been successfully organised by the Lithuanian National Union of Students for a few years now and is a follow-up to the “Act” training sessions which took place a few weeks ago.
