MSU and Vytautas Magnus University Presented Their Partnership Experience at EUA Conference
Resilience and steadfastness are values deeply embedded in the spirit of the Mariupol State University community. They represent the pursuit of a better future and the ability to overcome internal and external challenges. Together, these elements become essential for educational institutions to succeed in today’s world.
With this understanding, MSU Rector Mykola Trofymenko travelled to Latvia to participate in the events organized by the European University Association (EUA), of which the resilient university has been a member since 2022. Among the participants was also Ineta Dabašinskienė, the newly elected rector of Vytautas Magnus University and coordinator of the Transform4Europe European University Alliance, an institution that MSU counts among its close friends and strategic partners.
The events took place in Riga at the University of Latvia. The initial focus was on gatherings of academic community leaders, where participants shared their experiences in managing various crises affecting their institutions.
The annual conference, entitled “Connecting the Dots Between Sustainability and Resilience,” aimed to explore what these concepts mean for universities and how they can contribute to a more sustainable future within and beyond their countries. One of the panel discussions was dedicated to risks and resilience in knowledge security. Modern educational institutions face critical choices in capacity-building for the sake of internationalization. Drawing on their rich experience, the leaders of the partner universities shared their insights with the international community.
In our presentation, we raised the key issue of building a culture of risk awareness in European educational institutions by using both our negative and positive experiences. We showcased our outstanding, close strategic partnership between Mariupol State University and Vytautas Magnus University, as well as our best case, i.e. our participation in the Transform4Europe European University Alliance.
For all of us, T4EU is not just about mobility or collaboration, it’s about joint survival and evolution. Together, we become stronger, wiser, and more connected!
– says Mykola Trofymenko, Rector of MSU.
