News

Meelis Friedenthal (University of Tartu) will hold guest lectures 16th-19th May.

Lectures will be held in 108 (Estų) room, Domus Philology, st. Universiteto 5.

Lectures will be held in English.

• Monday, May 16th 19.00 – The Middle Age in Estonia
• Tuesday, May 17th 15.00  – Early modern period in Estonia
• Wednesday, May 18th 19.00 – University of Tartu in the age of Enlightment
• Thursday, May 19th 13.00  –  Contemporary literature in Estonia: the writer’s perspective

Meelis Friedenthal has written a doctoral thesis at the University of Tartu on a 13th century philosophical-theological treatise about seeing and vision. Friedenthal has worked as lecturer in the faculty of theology and history and is currently working as an associate professor of the intellectual history at the University of Tartu.

Friedenthal has earned a reputation as a speculative fiction writer, his first novel Golden Age is about the role of history in shaping our identity. His second novel, The Bees is a historical on. It depicts the end of the 17th century and is a bleak vision about the voyage and encounters of a student who has come from Leiden to Tartu. The novel was well received by critics and readers alike; it won the European Union Prize for Literature and has been translated into several languages, including Lithuanian.

Friedenthal’s third novel The Language of Angels (2016) takes place in two parallel timelines, one in modern day and the other in 17th century Tartu, and is centered around a magical manuscript and Titivillus, a demon of scribing and typing errors that appears in different times and places.

Here is the List of Open Electives for the 2022/2023 fall semester.

These subjects can be chosen with the individual study plan instead of the electives suggested in your study programme.

More information can be found here>

Gabrielė Aputytė, a student in the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University, has won this year’s Baltic Rectors’ Scholarship Competition. She was awarded a €2,000 scholarship.

The aim of the Competition is to encourage us to get together like we did 30 years ago for the Baltic Way, by learning the languages of our neighbouring countries and learning about the culture of the Baltic States. The Rectors’ Scholarship Competition takes place every year, with winners awarded from three Baltic universities – Vilnius, Latvia and Tartu. The candidates compete in three stages of the competition: written and oral tasks at their home university, followed by the final stage at the host university. This year’s competition, as has become a tradition, took place at Vilnius University.

The competition winner, G. Aputytė, is a third-year student in the Lithuanian Philology and Latvian Language Programme. She explained that she has been studying the Latvian language since the beginning of her first year, and Estonian since the second year, so she did not need to prepare for the competition overnight. Instead, it was a long learning process.

“I am currently studying at the University of Latvia under the Erasmus+ exchange programme, so I have had a lot of practice speaking Latvian. However, I rarely get to study Estonian, so I had to revise a number of things on my own. Instead of spending time analysing grammar, I decided to come up with some essay topics and figure out what else I could say regarding these questions (in all the languages). This method of preparation turned out to be a good form of self-reflection, because I needed to think about my hobbies, future plans, etc., as well as our relations, and the similarities and differences between the three Baltic states,” said the winner, discussing her practice method before the competition.

G. Aputytė explained that “the competition is fascinating, in that you meet like-minded people, have a chance to share ideas and feel united.”

“Especially at the current time, having a sense of unity and friendship between neighbours is extremely important. I must admit that, while I’m not from Suvalkija, I do like to save money. I do not yet have a precise plan for how I will spend the scholarship I have received, but I would like to use it for a meaningful purpose. Perhaps it’s time for a trip?” the scholarship winner said.

Next year, the Baltic Rectors’ Scholarship Competition will again take place at Vilnius University. The competition is open to full-time students (including students from abroad) studying in any programme at the University of Vilnius, Latvia or Tartu and speaking one of the Baltic languages (Lithuanian, Latvian or Estonian) at the C1 level (or having it as their mother tongue), as well as two other languages at least at levels A1 to A2.

The European Summer Academy, organized by the German Academic Scholarship Fund (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), will take place in Vilnius from August 8–16. In order to establish a dialogue with international students on various issues in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, advanced undergraduate students, as well as graduate and doctoral students, are invited to apply for one of the four working groups and thus get involved in the activities of the academy until May 15.

Advanced Bachelor, Master and Doctoral students from Vilnius University and the EHU can apply for one of the following four working groups (14 hours scheduled):

• Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Political Regimes. Towards a New Systemic Competition? (Rochlitz/Karpa)
• What does learning from the Past mean today? The importance o Historical Memory for Contemporary Conflicts in Europe (Sahm/Kashtalian)
• The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg 1945/46: Its Creation, Operation and Legacy for Today’s Conflicts (Aust/Aust)
• (Un)Affordable Homes? Contemporary Housing Production in Vilnius (Zupan/Volkova)

During the joint activities in four international and transdisciplinary working groups, in plenary sessions, site visits, excursions etc. there will be numerous opportunities to exchange ideas and work from multiple perspectives among each other as well as with social and scientific actors from the region and both partner universities. International students are invited to participate not only in the programme activities but also in all joint meals in the evenings as well as on a weekend trip to Kaunas and Rukla.

If you are interested in participating in the Summer Academy and one of the four working groups, you are invited to contact the coordinators Dr Alexander Mionskowski by email at  (VU) and Vera Dzyadok at  (EHU). With your application please provide a short bio, indicating your field of study, semester and further information as well as a brief letter of motivation, indicating, among other things, which of the four working groups you are applying for.

The application deadline is May 15th. The selection of participants will take place no later than May 16th, all applicants are then notified immediately.

The Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes awards scholarships to exceptionally gifted students and doctoral candidates from Germany or studying for degrees in accredited programmes and institutions of higher education in Germany. Currently, it supports about 12.900 students and 1.100 doctoral candidates, providing its scholarship funding as well as a broad range of educational programmes, such as summer schools, conferences for doctoral students, and seminars.

The reason for choosing Vilnius is the city's special geographical location and eventful history, its multi-ethnicity and multi confessionalism, and its significance as the lost "Jerusalem of the North". This place of historically proven tolerance offers many points of contact for reflecting together on the present, past and future of our togetherness in Europe.

Dear colleagues,

may I wish you all light and good spirits during this Easter. The period is not very peaceful, but we should stay together and be strong.

Kind regards,

Inesa
Dean of the Faculty

The series of guest lectures 'Seven months, seven universities' launches its tenth episode: 'Working with disinformation discourses in a language classroom' by Assist. Dr Adam Mastandrea from Vilnius University. The webinar will take place online on 30th March at 11:00 am CEST and it will be broadcast live on Arqus YouTube channel.

For more information visit the Arqus  website >

This workshop offered by the University of Graz aims to provide a very first introduction to the Slovene language and culture. Participants will learn in an interactive way some basic words and expressions, including grammar specials (mini crash-course). Participants will also get acquainted with the culture, history and geography of SLOVEnia.

There are no prerequisites for this course, but participants are asked to join in with their microphone and computer camera on.

Target group: All interested academic staff members of the Arqus Alliance partner universities.

Workshop leader: Tatjana Koren and Laura Fekonja Fonteyn, Institute of Slavic Studies, University of Graz.

Date and time: 1 April 2022, 10:00-12:00 (CEST).

Please register here by 27 March 2022.

Workshop format: Online (Zoom). Participants will receive an invitation to a Zoom meeting in a timely manner.

Fee: The workshop is free of charge for staff members of the Arqus Alliance partner universities.

Contact: For any enquiries, please contact Simone Klinge  

Please note: In order to ensure the quality of the session and for the benefit of the participants, the number of participants for this workshop is limited to a maximum of 14. There are 2 workshop places per partner university and these will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If there are less than 2 registrations from one university, the remaining places will be allocated in list order regardless of affiliation to a partner university.

The Arqus workshop series on language and cross-cultural competence is offered in the framework of Action Line 4 Multilingual and Multicultural University (sub-line 4.5), led by Leipzig University. These workshops target academic and administrative staff at partner universities and focus on specific topics such as working and teaching through the medium of English, intercultural awareness in the classroom and outside, and inclusive language.

ERASMUS+ results are HERE.

ARQUS and Coimbra group results are HERE.

Search for your student card number you have entered when applying.

We are planning an online informational seminar. Please use the link below to attend and/or watch the recording later.

• March 17th, Thursday, 2pm (in Lithuanian). Press HERE.
• March 22th, Tuesday, 2pm (in English). Press HERE.

During the seminar you will be introduced to the following information: application documents, how to fill various forms, scholarships etc. 

Please join MS Teams group using the following code: 4d04cr2. Further online meeting, if needed, will be held there. Also, we‘ll upload required documents for easier use.

Currently urgent nominations are being sent. Don’t be surprised if you receive an email from the host university with the application instructions. Please pay close attention to the application DEADLINE, this is important! Nomination deadlines vary, no need to worry, everyone will be nominated on time.

After the official announcement of the results (after March 16th) changes are not allowed without a valid reason.

If you decide not to take part in the Exchange Programme (provided you have a valid reason), please inform both International relations office () and the exchange coordinator of Your faculty. Should you have doubts, please don’t hesitate to ask questions. We will do our best to find solutions together.

It is highly recommended to check the following information about the host University:

1. Application deadline
2. Subjects/courses you can study at the Host University and the language requirements for selected subjects/courses
3. Application procedure
4. Accommodation: what are the options, terms, conditions etc.