January 17 was the deadline for applications for the position of rector at the European Humanities University.
In total, there were 29 applications filed, said the head of communications and marketing at EHU Maksimas Milta. He refused to say whether there are Belarusians among the applicants. He said he was “guided by the requirements for privacy in relation to the information presented by candidates”.
Mr Milta said that the selection of candidates for the post of rector will be held by the authorized committee. Its members include the chairman of the general meeting of the co-founders of the EHU and president of the “Eurasia” Horton Beebe-Center, president of the EHU Anatoly Mikhailov, EHU Acting Rector Jorgen Jörgensen, a member of the Senate and the President of the EHU student office Hanna Filistovich and others.
International competition for the position of the EHU rector is held on behalf of the ‘Mercury Urval’ consulting agency and under the auspices of the Swedish Agency for International Cooperation in Development.
Earlier it was reported that the key qualifications for the applicant were a doctoral degree (PhD), not less than 15 years of experience in teaching and research activities at the university level, experience in the field of international cooperation between universities. Also, the candidate must have a minimum of five years experience in senior management positions in higher education. Future Rector should have experience of working with the European Union structures, and be fluent in English. Knowledge of Russian and/or Belarusian language is considered a plus.
Former rector of the EHU David Pollick, who spoke neither Russian nor Belarusian language held the post from April 2015 until the end of June 2016. Jorgen Jörgensen was appointed Acting Rector of the EHU in October 2016.
EHU was founded in Minsk in 1992. In 2004 it was closed by the Belarusian authorities for ideological reasons. A year later, the university reopened in Vilnius. It is a Lithuanian university, but it has the informal status of the Belarusian university in exile. It is funded by a group of international donors.
