Prof Dr Rimvydas Petrauskas is newly elected rector of Vilnius University

Vilnius University (VU) Council elected a new rector of VU. Prof Dr Rimvydas Petrauskas will lead the largest higher education institution in Lithuania for five years and will commence his term of office on 1 April.

It took two rounds of voting to elect the new Rector of VU. In the first round, none of the candidates obtained the required majority of Councils’ members votes.

In the second ballot, the most votes from members of the Council received Prof Dr Rimvydas Petrauskas, who collected 8 votes and won against Prof Dr Ramūnas Stepanauskas, who collected 3 votes.

Prof Dr Rimvydas Petrauskas is the Dean of the Faculty of History of Vilnius University, Chairman of the Board of Research Council of Lithuania, Full member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, President of National Committee of Lithuanian History Sciences, former member of the Lithuanian Higher Education Council.

According to VU Statute, the Rector shall be deemed elected if at least 7 of 11 members of the Council vote in his favor. If no candidate obtains the required majority at the first ballot, a second ballot shall be held.

The third ballot shall be held if no candidate obtains the required majority within the first two rounds. In the third one, the Rector shall be elected by a majority of at least 5 votes in his favor, with each member of the Council present at the meeting and having openly voted in favor or against one or more of the candidates. If there is a tie, the vote of the Council presiding over the meeting would determine the outcome of the vote.

6 candidates competed for the position of Rector of VU: President of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences Prof Habil Dr Jūras Banys, Dean of VU faculty of Law Prof Dr Tomas Davulis, Senior Researcher of the National Centre of Physical and Technology Sciences Prof Dr Eimutis Juzeliūnas, Dean of VU faculty of History Prof Dr Rimvydas Petrauskas, Director of the Single Cell Genomics Centre of „Bigelow“ Laboratory for Ocean, Senior researcher Prof Dr Ramūnas Stepanauskas and current Rector of VU Prof Dr Artūras Žukauskas.