Newsletter of November 2005

Turning the spotlight on...

The European Humanities University was founded in 1993 and it quickly became the largest and the only private establishment of higher education in Belarus that had state-recognized university status. It's academic goals were clear from the very beginning, as its creators aspired to make the EHU a place where the humanitarian cultural identity of Belarus would be sought out in the setting of the European humanitarian heritage.

That is why at the beginning it was conceived with only three departments: Philosophy, Theology and Art. Later on this initial structure was complemented by a system of disciplines possessing a more public oriented and applied character (for example, Law, Psychology, Economics, Political Science and Business Management), studied according to special programs developed in the Franco-Belarusian department; along with the latest addition, Computer Science. These departments in turn have several internal study programs.

Over time the EHU provided thirteen major and three minor programmes. Specializations were available in the fields of Philosophy, Cultural Studies, Theology, Political Science, Psychology, International Law, World Economy, Economics, History and Theory of Art, International Cultural Tourism, and Computer Science (Web design and Computer Graphics). Since 1997, the University had been offered Ph.D. programs in Philosophy and Law and in 2000, the EHU established postgraduate programs in Psychology, Cultural Studies and Economics. The Master's degree program in Gender Studies, was launched at EHU in 2000. In the academic year 2001-2002, several new Master's degree programs were initiated. These included Master's degree programs in International Relations, Public Administration, Religious Studies, and Philosophy, as well as others. The ever-growing fields of study were articulated with nine research centers: the Centre for European and Transatlantic Studies, Centre for Belarusian Studies, American Studies Centre, Institute for German Studies, Centre for Gender Studies, Centre for Civic Education, Centre for Economic and Social Research, and Centre for Philosophical Anthropology.

Given its consolidation and growing international reputation all the academia was shocked when, from 2002 on, the Lukashenka Government tried to hijack the institutions academic freedom by threatening to close down the University. Upon several unsuccessful calls from the minister of education asking for the resignation of EHU's founding rector, Prof. Anatoly Mikhailov, the EHU education license was revoked in August 2004. The ground for such decision was the "lack of academic premises", as the leased of the facilities had been abruptly terminated by the Government shortly before. But what undoubtedly lead to this repressive attitude was the "Western-style" education provided by the EHU, who was running an international program of academic exchange and visiting lecturers and fostered an open-minded and democratic learning atmosphere.

In spite of the dramatic events that the EHU and its students underwent its educational projected survived, as from August 2004 on the EHU functioned has a virtual network university with seat in Vilnius, providing distant learning programmes for Byelorussian students. In October 2005 the EHU has fully resumed its teaching activities, upon the enrollment of 171 young Byelorussian BA students and 100 MA students. The distance learning BA programmes allows for the participation of another 293 undergraduate students.

The reopening of the EHU in Lithuania has received strong international support: the European Parliament adopted 3 resolutions that refer to this matter, calling for "the Commission and Member States to assist the University in the pursuit of its teaching and research programmes" and for the "Member States to recognize the degrees awarded by the EHU by way of confirmation of a high level of competence and outstanding academic skills". The political support was complemented by the financial support from European and American donors, ranging from the Governments of Lithuania, Sweden, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and Netherlands to the MacArthur Foundation and the US Department of State, among others. But if the EHU has retained its status of a "beacon of intellectual integrity in Belarus" that is due, above all, to the physical courage and relentless determination of its founders, academics, staff and students - their inspiring example breaths new live into the spirit and the principles of the Magna Charta Universitatum, even where politics soughs to prevail over the right to learn and broaden one’s horizons.