Integration of students

Mentor programme

In 2024, 242 mentors were active in the mentor programme, 200 of whom participated in the central mentor training. To improve preparation, the training was organised in three streams, one of which was in English, thus involving international students in the mentoring programme. This marks an important step towards the internationalisation of the programme and reaching out to a wider group of students.

Camps for first-year student(s)

First-year camps in 2024 were organised in 15 university units and a total of 834 participants. These camps were a significant step towards smoother integration of new students and building community from the first days of studies.

Two of these camps were held in English, thus facilitating the integration of international student(s) into the university community.

VU SR Integration Festival "Ad Astra"

The fifth VU SA Integration Festival "Ad Astra" took place in 2024 and offered a wide range of activities for students:

• 5 discussions on higher education topics,
• a contact fair with VU and VU SR organisations,
• VU and VU SR Organisations Workshop,
• a concert,
• and many opportunities for informal networking.

The event attracted around 3000 participants and was one of the highlights of student engagement at the beginning of the academic year.

III cycle integration

Together with the VU Doctoral and Postdoctoral Unit, a central integration day for PhD students was organised, which this year took place at the VU Scholarly Communication and Information Centre. It was a discussion with PhD students and their supervisors about the challenges and experiences of PhD studies. Afterwards, participants were able to ask questions and talk freely in a world cafe principle. The integration of third cycle students needs to be given even more attention, and a PhD student mentoring initiative will be launched next year to help third cycle students overcome academic, administrative and social challenges.

Attrition prevention plan

VU SR contributed to the development of a study success map, run by the VU Student services and careers office, aimed at early goal setting and reducing student attrition. Although the implementation of the map in the study process has been postponed to 2025/2026, preparatory work has already started.

Learning clusters have also been organised in cooperation with the Student Services and Careers Unit (SSCU). 43 student/teacher participants and 70 student participants registered.

5 learning groups were held (at the Life Sciences Centre - Organic Chemistry, at the Faculty of Philosophy - Cognitive Psychology, at the Šiauliai Academy - Programming languages and Object-oriented programming, at the Faculty of Medicine - Human Physiology, at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science - Contemporary Political Theory)

This initiative focuses on enhancing the academic success of the student(s) and fostering a culture of mutual support.