VU Students Were Given a Unique Opportunity to Participate in a Discussion with the Belgian Royal Couple

After the historic visit of Their Royal Highnesses King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium in Vilnius University (VU), students showed their positive emotions: they called the meeting with the royal couple “a unique opportunity”.

The King and Queen of Belgium, who are visiting Vilnius, held a closed discussion with Belgian and VU students, along with the President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda and the First Lady Diana Nausėdienė. It was moderated by Prof. Jonas Dagys of the Faculty of Philosophy.

A total of 26 students participated in the discussion, divided into five groups based on the most relevant topics today, such as biodiversity and climate change, women’s economic empowerment, mental health issues in education, and the role of universities in shaping a sustainable society. One of these five groups also had six Belgian students, who were able to talk about their mobility in Lithuania.

Graduate student in education at the Faculty of Philosophy Augustina Kundrotaitė was pleasantly surprised that the President and First Lady of Lithuania were very interested and actively participated in the discussion on biodiversity and climate change. According to her, she also had a little chat with the King of Belgium.

“The meeting was very interesting, and I was actually positively surprised that our president was very interested in the topic of climate change and was so involved in the discussion. He asked us about our positions, and even interrupted us to have more time for the discussion. It was really very positive. Also, what stood out for me was Mrs. D. Nausėdienė’s question about how come we are so clever and have so much knowledge, and thus created so many inventions, but still haven’t solved this problem,” says the university student. She leaves the meeting in a positive mood and says she is glad to have had such an opportunity at the university.

A graduate student in history at VU Augustė Grakavinaitė, who participated in the discussion about the role of universities in shaping a sustainable society, was also surprised by the involvement and knowledge of the subject of the first lady D. Nausėdienė. “At first, I was nervous, I thought it was going to be a very strict event, but it turned out to be a very authentic discussion with the royal family, the president and the first lady. They had an active and free discussion and were very engaged in the topic. (…) It was a wonderful experience, I am very happy to have been invited”, G. A. Mota Salinas shared his experience.

Chairman of the VU Student Representation Neda Žutautaitė, who is also a graduate student in public policy analysis, participated in a discussion about women’s economic empowerment with the first lady and the Queen of Belgium.

“We discussed what are the main elements of women’s economic empowerment, because no economic growth is possible without gender equality. Especially when women are less likely than men to reach high positions, they are off work for longer periods, spend more time on housework and are less involved in STEM scientific activities. We talked about problems and opportunities to change it. The main highlights are various programs that empower women by enabling them to share their experiences, thus setting an example for others,” says the president of VU Student Representation.

According to her, at the end of the discussion with the first lady and the queen, the conclusion was reached that this problem should be addressed not only by women, but by the whole society.

“It was fun to talk about how young people understand sustainability and how engaged they are in the topic itself. Also, how much young people from the regions are involved in the topic of sustainability, how the regions understand sustainability, how a large part of society can contribute to sustainability.

The King of Belgium also joined our group. The fact alone that the King of Belgium had approached our group was very impressive. We discussed how sustainability is developed in Belgium and how Lithuania should perhaps take an example from Belgium”, says A. Grakavinaitė.

The university student says that she takes away good emotions from the group discussion, because world leaders and important people see sustainability as a problem and understand that it is scientists and universities who should “play first fiddle” on this topic and should be listened to more.

|The meeting went better than I expected,” Gustavo A. Mota Salinas from Mexico, who is a graduate student in finance and banking at the VU Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, shared his first impressions shortly after leaving.