Fighting for Harmony - students, society and the academy in tune
EAIR Forum Vilnius 2009, Vilnius, Lithuania, 23-26 August 2009

The aim of the 31st EAIR Forum in Vilnius is to unite the whole academic milieu - students, academics and society for an intellectual challenge: to fight the better future in higher education.

The landscape of higher education (HE) continues to grow more complex, nowhere more so than in Europe, where the geopolitical map is mirrored by changing contexts in which our higher education institutions (HEIs) operate. From the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Urals, Europe's universities and HEIs share a myriad of challenges - as well as opportunities - in common with our counterparts world-wide.

The 'triad' of main players in this academic milieu - students, academics and society, all ultimately striving for the same broad objectives, often follow different 'road-maps' on their route. This inevitably and unavoidably causes tension and conflict, often within a competitive environment. It could be said that these three players - with national, regional and multinational governments looking on with very keen interest - are engaging in a conflict. At times these adversaries, as it were, are striving within very clearly articulated battle-lines; at other times the struggle can be more subtle, more diplomatic, but with the aims of each of the combatants convergent. On some issues, the objectives sought will of course be divergent. But ultimately, the overall aim of the 'good fight' in HE most assuredly must be to achieve harmony; a harmony which is empowering both of individual universities and HEIs - and of ministries, agencies and of all of the affiliated associations in the European Higher Education Area.

So, whether the battle is conducted in the field or in the board room or the senate chamber, you are welcome to the 31st EAIR Forum in Lithuania, which is celebrating its millennium. Welcome to the architecturally splendid Vilnius University in Vilnius, European Capital of Culture, that is always open for all possible innovations in mutual field of academic interests.

Rimantas Vaitkus, Forum Chair
Vilnius University