On Friday, 20 May, architecture historian and theorist Kazys Varnelis will be visiting Vytautas Magnus University and holding public lecture in English titled Network Culture and Space at 11 a.m. in the Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy (Gedimino g. 44, room 202).

On 16-25 May, visiting lecturer from Michigan State University, Prof. Bruce W. Bean, is teaching the course of Comparative Company Law at the VMU Faculty of Law.

The Embassy of the United States in Lithuania, Vytautas Magnus University and the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum are inviting students and researchers to take part in a training seminar about the Holocaust on 13-17 June in Kaunas.

On 18 May, Wednesday, at 11 a.m., Professor Teodor Mateoc from Oradea University (Romania) will hold lecture titled Modernist Poetry: Ezra Pound to the students of VMU Dept. of English Philology at the Faculty of Humanities (K. Donelaičio g. 52, room 514).

From 23 March to 12 May, Millersville University (Pennsylvania, USA) Professor Emeritus Saulius Sužiedėlis held a series of public lectures at VMU on genocide and mass murder in the 20th century. His last lecture focused on genocide from the perspective of global history and politics, the concept of genocide today and in the context of Communism and Nazism.

On 4–7 May, the Kaunas community enjoyed a special annual event – the VMU Spring Festival 2011. Held for the tenth time by the Vytautas Magnus University Students' Representative Council (VMU SRC), the festival was as diverse as ever in its program and provided some quality time and fun activities to people of varying ages and interests.

On 6–7 May, the international conference From Poetical Pilgrimage to the Search of the Homeland: Adam Mickiewicz, Oscar Milosz and Czesław Miłosz was held in Kaunas and Šeteniai, where researchers from France, Poland and Lithuania read papers and participated in discussions, analyzing real and spiritual journeys of three prominent multicultural personalities.

Famous mezzo soprano singer Rita Novikaitė is returning to hometown Kaunas in the autumn semester to teach at the VMU Music Academy’s Dept. of Singing.

From 31 July to 7 August, Vytautas Magnus University is holding the Higher School's of Economics (HSE) 11th interdisciplinary research project Baltic Practice. The topic of this year's Summer School is Russian-Europe Partnership: Citizen Networks Bridging Europe.

Perceiving a nation from the linguistic angle is still common in Lithuania. It supposes that those whose native tongue is Lithuanian are Lithuanians, while those whose native tongue is Polish are Poles – in other words, not one of our own. As though members of society were only those who talked Lithuanian. If, following in the Western European tradition, we looked at a nation from the civil angle, we would see its members as all citizens of Lithuania, everyone who is working for the good of the state, without minding their first language or blood ties.

On 8-10 June 2011, the 16th annual conference of the European Academy for Standardization (EURAS) will be held at Vytautas Magnus University, organized by VMU prof. Dr. Vladislav V. Fomin. This year’s conference’s theme is Standards for Development – the organizers were specifically soliciting papers on the significance of standards and standardization for the economic and societal development, though papers related to other standards, standardization and conformity assessment related topics were also welcome.

Lithuania and Poland are marking the world-famous writer and poet Czesław Miłosz‘s centennial birth anniversary. A national program has been outlined, many events will be held. However, as was expressed in an interview with the Vytautas Magnus University’s historian Prof. Egidijus Aleksandravičius, the best way to immortalize this luminary is to read his books and aspire to behave the way he thought was meaningful.

On April 30, graduates of music schools, conservatories and gymnasiums were introduced to the Vytautas Magnus University Music Academy. At the event, the new division's study programmes were presented and future students were provided all relevant information.

On 3 May, Tuesday, at 5 p.m., the international media art festival Media Art Days 2011 will open its doors at the VMU Art Gallery 101 (Laisvės al. 53). Until 26 May, the gallery will serve as the location where all kinds of artworks – video films, installations, performances, campaigns, computer graphics and photography – by higher art schools' students and lecturers will be presented.

From April 15 to May 23 events will be held in Vilnius, Kaunas, Panevėžys and Šiauliai, offering the audience to familiarise themselves with American culture – there will be lectures, movie evenings, dance festivals and more.

On April 19, the first meeting of the re-opened academic club Collegium Artes Liberales took place at the Faculty of Humanities – a table-talk titled Liberal Arts in the Face of Global Crisis. Participants included the discussion's moderator Prof. Egidijus Aleksandravičius, Prof. Viktorija Skrupskelytė, Prof. Algirdas Avižienis and Thomas Aquinas College Alumnus Vytautas Adomaitis.

On the week before Easter, the VMU Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy together with the Sorbonne Nouvelle University (Paris) held the first international seminar-roundtable discussion, European Union = Europe? The students here shared their insights on identity, changes of values, the role of religion and politics in the context of Europe and the EU. Discussions also touched upon the EU’s bilateral and multilateral relations from both political and economical perspectives.

Vytautas Magnus University provides all the necessary conditions for students' self-realization and leisure. It encourages student initiatives to create, nurture, start new and continue previous cultural, social and sports activities.

On April 20, VMU students took the first three places at the final round of the Students’ Olympics of Political Science, which took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The winner Marius Šačikauskas, a student at the VMU Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, will participate in the event held by the Community of Democracies in Vilnius on July 1 and accept the award of the best young Lithuanian leader in front of international audience and foreign politicians.

Since March, all readers of the VMU website can subscribe to the Vytautas Magnus University newsletter, which is intended to keep you updated about the university's current affairs and latest events. Feel free to subscribe by entering your e-mail address in the subscription box located on the right side of the homepage.