The films, created in conjunction with the International Association of Universities (IAU), are part of the "Aiming Higher" project which was presented Nov. 15-17th at IAU's Conference, "Transforming Higher Education for the Future" in Puebla Mexico. Some 30 universities are presented in the documentary series, but MRU is the only university featured from Lithuania.
The documentary presents various universities, their roles, and discusses how they try to implement sustainable development goals as well as their importance to society and its development.
The International Association of Universities has outlined four strategic higher education development areas which it will especially highlight including internationalization, technologies, leadership and sustainable development. The documentary films reveal how different universities try to implement these goals, what is their good practice and experience. The film about MRU deals with the topic of Leadership.
According to BBC "Storybooks" Global Director of Programme Partnership Simon Shelley, the goal was to show that the role of universities, throughout the world, taking into account research and achievements in the area of social leadership, encouragement of leadership and resolution of various problems, is very important.
MRU Rector Prof. Inga Žalėnienė said that the United Nations in 2015 approved a strategy for implementation of sustainable development. Higher education has a main role in this area in educating future generations, developing their critical thinking, undertaking scientific research and resolving problems, including local communities, implementing sustainable policies in university villages.
"International academic communities are uniting and actively taking a leadership role in seeking to resolve huge global challenges such as climate change, cybersecurity, democratic processes, development and encouragement of the rule of law, decreasing social exclusion, integration of refugees and others," said Rector Prof. Žalėnienė.
Our University has been actively participating in the International Association of Universities for many years and other international university network research and studies activities. Step by step we are beginning to implement a sustainable development strategy, integrating the goals of sustainable development in studies and research. We are implementing various social projects and initiatives and are reacting to challenges arising in society and uniting our community, she noted.
"It is great that millions of viewers throughout the world will find out more about Lithuania's higher education," she said.
BBC's film team visited MRU and were at the Social Innovations Conference SOCIN. They also had the opportunity to become more closely acquainted with the Social Innovation MRU LAB network.
To find out more about the project and see the film about Mykolas Romeris University, visit the website: www.iau-aiminghigher.org
