You have just received your Master’s degree from IIRPS VU, could you share with us what is the most memorable event that you associate with the Institute and your studies here? 

It is quite difficult to single out one event during my six years at the Institute, but the memory of my first essay comes immediately to mind. I won’t hide it – when I came to the Institute, I thought I could write very well, so the thought of writing my first paper didn’t scare me at all at the time. However, once I started writing it, things turned out to be not so easy: confusing Talmuds of sources, a myriad of rules, and then there were the requirements of structure and academic writing style… Well, of course, I remember that the grade of this paper was a bit out of line with my maximalist expectations as a fresh first-year student. However, this experience has opened a new awareness that writing a thesis is one of the main ways of reasoned academic thinking, which has been well developed with every thesis at IIRPS. Perhaps that is why every time I enter the Institute’s classrooms, they smell of academic discussions that do not fit into the time frame of an hour-and-a-half-long seminar involving members of the academic community from different personal and professional backgrounds. 

Since you completed your bachelor’s and master’s studies at VU TSPMI, could you share why you should apply to VU TSPMI?

I have to admit that my own choice to study at IIRPS was more accidental than diligently planned. When I was choosing my studies, I had completely opposite alternatives to IIRPS – e.g. at a certain period, and I really wanted to study nanomaterials chemistry at the then Faculty of Chemistry in Naugardukas Street. However, at the end of the choice phase, I naturally asked myself the question: “Where would I feel more comfortable for the next 4 years – mixing reagents in a laboratory or discussing political and social phenomena in an auditorium?”. When I answered this question honestly for myself, I knew that IIRPS would be my first choice of study. And it was a choice that I have not regretted, both during my bachelor’s and master’s studies. 

The most important thing is to choose your studies at IIRPS responsibly and thoughtfully. Although IIRPS is known as a prestigious institution, it is important that the prestige of the Institute alone should not be the deciding factor in a prospective student’s decision to study at the Institute. The first step should be to have a frank discussion with oneself, which can naturally help in deciding one’s future. What can I confirm? – IIRPS is a great environment that creates many opportunities for everyone’s development and where one can meet many wonderful and interesting people.

You are currently working at Vilnius University, could you share your work activities; what do you do at work? How is it working at the University? 

I am currently working in the administration of the University, where I am responsible for the coordination and planning of the study process throughout the University. I will admit that it is very interesting to have such a responsibility when you are not only a University employee but also a student because, in one way or another, the results of my own work have later reached me as a student at IIRPS. I will admit that this double-agent status helped me the most when on 12 March 2020, a historic event took place – the University took the decision to move to a remote location due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the University had taken this decision, the whole administrative team had to lay the first foundations for the organisation of the distance learning process practically within a few days. Although I had been working at the University for just over a month at that time, my authentic experience as a student at the University gave me a slightly different perspective on the challenges of planning the study process at that time and, finally, allowed me to check how certain solutions for organising the distance learning process had worked or not. 

From a broader perspective, Vilnius University is a very large and mature community, not only holding centuries of traditions, different views and ideas but also shaping the future of our country every day through its comprehensive activities. When you try to grasp the contribution that Vilnius University has made to the overall development of our country since 1579, you simply cannot help but feel proud of the University. It is this feeling that makes working at the University meaningful and makes you immensely proud of what you do. 

 You have been an active member of VU SR for many years; how has this activity contributed to your daily life and career? 

I could also attribute both my joining VU SR and my further career to coincidence. Although I had felt an unexplainable attraction to education and its problems since my gymnasium days, my joining VU SR was not an entirely targeted decision. However, by coming to VU SR, I found an environment that not only gave me the opportunity to get to know and understand the issues in higher education better but also created a space to define my own profile. Apparently, thanks to VU SR, I found my niche in my academic profile – the study of public policy and analysis of public governance reforms in the higher education sector (by the way, I wrote both my Bachelor’s and Master’s theses on the latter), and I have no doubt that the experience I gained at VU SR created the right basis for the continuation of my career at Vilnius University in the next 4 years. Although VU SR is only one of the many organisations that offer self-expression opportunities to the University’s students, it is to this organisation that I can be grateful for the invaluable experience it has given me and, most importantly, the people who are still with me today as my best friends.

Since you work at a university and have been involved in student representation for many years, share what is and should be the importance of higher education for a young person? 

My view may not be popular, but I believe that higher education is only useful to a young person when he or she clearly identifies the need for more in-depth and mature self-improvement and self-knowledge. Therefore, I have always regarded the University not as a formal institution of higher education but as a way of thinking about the surrounding reality and phenomena, where different people’s ideas and arguments inevitably collide, constantly shaping my worldview and erudition. On the other hand, if one does not feel the need for deeper knowledge, unfortunately, studying can eventually become a misery, which, in my opinion, is fundamentally incompatible with the idea of the University and its studies. Unfortunately, many things (including studies) are still done based on inertia, whereby certain glass norms are formed in society – for example, there is still the mythical axiom that you have to go to University when you finish gymnasium. Although this stigma is increasingly being eliminated, young people who are undecided about their future are often weighed down by such norms, which are designed to justify the mystical expectations that someone has set. I believe that higher education is, first and foremost, of immense benefit to those who want it with purpose and consciously pursue it. Therefore, it is not necessary to pursue it immediately after leaving school if one is not prepared for it. I would like to share that during my studies, it was fascinating to meet in the classrooms (especially during my Master’s studies) colleagues who were older than me and who had a completely different attitude towards their studies at the University: you could immediately see how their eyes lit up and how they engaged in the seminar discussions with their own life experiences. You just watch from the sidelines and enjoy it. This is a real university for me! 

 Share more about your hobbies? What do you do in your free time from work and studies? 

Due to my intensive Master’s studies, I must admit that I had to postpone my active hobbies and activities for a few years. However, one of my half-realised hobbies, which I have been reproaching myself for a long time, is reading books: last year and this year at the Book Fairs, I unwittingly bought books that I never got around to reading. So my initial plan is to finally read these books during the summer holidays and to clear my head by travelling around Europe and, of course, to keep going and get on with new things. 

What would you like to wish the VU TSPMI community?

Be happy – only happy people can create the best things for Lithuania and the world.