The Conference was organized by the WUS committees of Austria, Canada and Germany together with the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Research, the University of Vienna and the Central European University (CEU) and brought together educators and policy-makers, experts from international agencies like UNHCR, OHCHR, UNESCO, IOM, the Council of Europe and the European Union, civil society and students from different countries. As a result of the Conference, the Vienna Declaration on the Human Right to Quality Education was adopted.
Dr. J. Bieliauskaitė participated in the working group focused on shrinking civic space and academic freedom. She shared the EHU’s experience in providing support to Belarusian academics and students in opposition. “Being university in exile for more than 15 years the European Humanities University has proven its capability of dealing with various challenges and readiness for further development. Now it is considered as the European university and equal partner of those higher education institutions that respect academic freedom, democracy and human rights”. Therefore, according to Dr. J. Bieliauskaitė, this Conference is not only a great opportunity to spread the knowledge about the mission of the EHU, but also to establish new partnerships from which the EHU community could benefit in the nearest future.
Thanks to international donors, the EHU provided support to 96 Belarusian students that were transferred to the EHU and 18 Belarusian scholars fired from Belarusian higher education and science institutions in 2020/21 academic year. In addition, 69 civically active entrants were supported during the admission in 2021.
