Fighting for Harmony - students, society and the academy in tune
EAIR Forum Vilnius 2009, Vilnius, Lithuania, 23-26 August 2009
On each day of the Forum, a plenary keynote address will be given on one of the main Forum themes.
Sunday 23 August, 18:45 - 19:15
Professor Marius Povilas Saulauskas and Professor Alfredas Bumblauskas.
Place: Old campus - St. Johns' Church
The first keynote of the Forum will be given by two prominent professors of Vilnius University: Professor Marius Povilas Saulauskas and Professor Alfredas Bumblauskas. The title of their opening address is 'The Threefold Step of Academia Europeana: a Case of Universitas Vilnensis'.
Marius Povilas Saulauskas is professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy. He is the Head of Department of Logic and History of Philosophy and the Director of Information Society Study Center that offers novel multidisciplinary Information Society Master program; he also works on various academic projects integrating social and human sciences.
Alfredas Bumblauskas is professor and Vice-dean of the Faculty of History. He is an esteemed historian who has edited several Lithuanian books: 'Historiography and the Open Society' (1998), 'Vilnius University 1957-1999' and other. He has created the conception of History instruction at secondary schools; he has also initiated and reorganised the reform of History studies.
Monday 24 August, 09:00 - 09:45
Ms Lesley Wilson
Place: Old campus - Theatre Hall
Ms Lesley Wilson will give the Monday morning Forum keynote address. The title of her presentation is 'The policy of Higher Education in Europe'.
Lesley Wilson is Secretary General of the European University Association (EUA) in Belgium and editor of the Bologna Handbook. She joined EUA at its creation in 2001 and formally took over as Secretary General in 2002. Previous to this she held a number of senior positions in higher education and research management at European level, in particular as Director of UNESCO's European Centre for Higher Education in Bucharest (UNESCO-CEPES) from 1995 to late 1999, Head of the newly established Science Policy Unit at the European Science Foundation in Strasbourg (1994/1995) and Director of the EC TEMPUS Office in Brussels from 1990 to 1994.
Lesley Wilson is a graduate of the University of Glasgow and the Institut des Hautes Etudes Européennes at the University of Strasbourg she spent her early career as a scientific staff member of the German Science Council in Cologne before moving to Brussels in 1988 to join the newly established ERASMUS Bureau.
Tuesday 25 August, 09:00 - 09:45
Professor Andrejs Rauhvargers
Place: Old campus - Theatre Hall
Professor Andrejs Rauhvargers is the third keynote speaker in Vilnius and his keynote is entitled 'Achieving Bologna goals: where does Europe stands before 2010'.
Andrejs Rauhvargers is Secretary General of the Latvian Rectors' Council and professor of education management at the University of Latvia. Since 1994 he has been internationally active in the field of recognition of foreign qualifications. He has served as President of the ENIC network (1997-2002) and as President of the Lisbon Convention Committee (2001-2007) and has written a number of publications in the field of recognition and various aspects of the Bologna Process. He has been co-editor of several volumes of the Council of Europe Higher Education Series.
Andrejs Rauhvargers is member of Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG) since 1999 and has been active in implementing the Bologna Process reforms in Latvia. From 2005-2007 he chaired the BFUG Bologna Process Stocktaking Working Group, which prepared the Stocktaking report for the Bologna London ministerial conference in 2007, and is currently appointed to chair the preparation of next Stocktaking report for the ministerial conference in Leuven in 2009.
Wednesday 26 August, 09:00 - 09:45
Dr Kari Hyppönen
Place: Old campus - Theatre Hall
On the last day of the Forum, Dr Kari Hyppönen will give his presidential address entitled 'EAIR in a Changing World: EAIR forever?' After his presentation Kari Hyppönen will answer questions from the audience.
Kari has been EAIR President since the Forum in Innsbruck. He serves a three year term till the Forum in Valencia in 2010.
Kari Hyppönen is currently Director of Administration at the University of Turku, Finland. In 1993 97 he worked as Consultant for the Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) of the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development (OECD), Paris, France. Before that, Kari held different positions at the University of Turku since 1968 also contributing to the work of the Nordic Association of University Administrators (NUAS).
Kari's first encounter with AIR/EAIR was the fifth European forum of AIR in Maastricht in 1983. He has attended all the EAIR Forums since 1990. In 1991, he was elected to the Executive Committee, became Vice-Chair in 1994 and Chair in 1995-2000.
Kari was Chair of the Programme Committee at the EAIR Forum at the University of Turku (1993) and member of the Programme Committees of 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, and 2005. Kari served in 1991-2004 on the International Development Committee, Membership Committee and External Relations Committee of AIR which he has been member of since 1991. For his dedication and efforts on behalf of EAIR including the establishment of the Secretariat in Amsterdam, Kari became Distinguished Member in 2000.
Kari Hyppönen was member of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) International Expert Group, EuroFaculty-Kaliningrad, in 2002 -07 and is currently a member of the CBSS International Expert Group, EuroFaculty-Pskov since 2008 and the Council of Advisors of the University of Latvia since 2009.
He has been Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Baltic Sea Region University Network (BSRUN) since 2000 and was one of the founders of the annual Baltic Seminar of University Administrators (BSUA) in 2000. Kari's active role in the Baltic region was acknowledged when he was awarded Honorary Membership of the University of Latvia in 2001 and Honorary Doctorate of the Immanuel Kant State University of Russia (former Kaliningrad State University) in 2003.
In addition, Kari has participated in international review teams and the editorial boards and advisory committees of various journals.
