Thanks to the essay competition, Belarusian students and teachers visited Vilnius and compared the educational process in universities of the two countries.

Participants of the creative competition, which started back in March on the initiative of the youth organization “Student Network”, were invited to express ideas for improving the quality of higher education in our republic: to identify existing problems, find real, relatively easy-to-implement solutions, and predict the further development of the situation. Out of 60 works submitted to the competition (by the way, about half of them were in English), 15 best were selected. The reward for their authors was a trip to Lithuania paid for by the organizers. Among the winners was a representative from Vitebsk region – Evgenia Dalimayeva, a senior lecturer at the Department of Philosophy of VSU named after P. Masherov.

What useful ideas, in her opinion, could be implemented in universities in the near future with minimal costs? They are simple, like all ingenious things. For example, Evgenia Olegovna touched upon the issue of increasing the prestige of higher education and motivating students to gain more in-depth knowledge in her essay: "I would suggest issuing diplomas with attached inserts that record the level of academic performance, so that an employer can immediately see the "quality" of the young specialist applying for a job." Among other measures are those that will help any person to learn and improve: mastering the technique of speed reading, developing touch-typing skills, introducing a mandatory rhetoric course (so as not to experience difficulties in the future, for example, when meeting a potential employer and during the presentation of one's achievements), as well as classes aimed at improving attention, memory, and imagination.

The jury highly appreciated these ideas, and in May Evgenia Dalimayeva, along with the other winners of the competition, went to Vilnius. There, the Belarusians

attended several seminars, and also saw firsthand how education is organized in Lithuania and how it differs from ours.

— The main topic raised was the formation of student self-governance as one of the necessary elements for Belarus to join the Bologna Process (recall that this refers to the convergence and harmonization of higher education systems of European countries with the aim of creating a unified higher education area. — Ed.). Our youth currently participates insufficiently in various aspects of university life. And the main structure uniting this category of the population and operating under the patronage of the state is the BRSM. The situation in Lithuania is different. Representatives of various student organizations, initiated by the students themselves, spoke before us and told about their activities, — shared her impressions Evgenia Olegovna. — A significant part of the information exchange was conducted in English. What was pleasing about this is that almost all members of our group, which included winners, prize-winners, and organizers of the competition, communicated freely without simultaneous translation and asked questions.

By the way, most of the Lithuanian speakers demonstrated knowledge of several foreign languages, noted Evgenia Dalimaeva. Proficiency in two or three languages in Europe is considered the norm for a university graduate. Our country is also taking certain steps in this direction, and a corresponding mandatory exam has even been introduced at school, but we still have a long way to go to reach the Western level.

However, where Europeans fall short is in the systematic and thorough nature of education. Education in accordance with the Bologna Process is characterized by fragmentation. That is, in the first two years, in many Western universities, a student can choose individual courses in philosophy, cultural studies, etc., and as a result, they will learn a lot, for example, about Socrates' views, but will not even suspect the existence of Schopenhauer.

— As a result, academic, fundamental training suffers, — says Evgenia Olegovna.

The Belarusians also gained many interesting insights from their excursion to Vilnius University.

— The Bologna Process implies maximum student autonomy. They spend only 30% of their total study time in lecture halls. The rest involves searching for necessary information independently and completing academic assignments,— explained Evgenia Dalimaeva. — The library at Vilnius University is open 24/7, and even at 2-3 AM it is not empty; students are there working on their own projects. Moreover, if our students have three to four classes daily, they have one or two. They acquire knowledge themselves afterwards, which makes them less passive and teaches them to plan their work effectively.

One could continue to talk about the contestants' impressions and the differences they observed in the universities' technical equipment, the workload of both students and faculty, and the degree of youth initiative. However, no matter how much one discusses it, any education system will have its strengths and weaknesses. And time will tell what will ultimately prove most effective for Belarus.

Liliya Ivchenko, Vitebskiye Vesti.