VU Rector prof. Artūras Žukauskas met with Mr. Wei Ruixing, newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the Republic of Lithuania last week. VU was the first institution of higher education visited by a new Ambassador. On 15 April Ambassador Wei Ruixing presented the Letter of Credence to H. E. Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania.

During the meeting W. Ruixing welcomed prof. A. Žukauskas to have been elected for the post of Rector of Vilnius University, the oldest and largest high school, expressed his appreciation for the successful development of cooperation between the two countries. It was stated that one of the greatest achievements of the co-operation is foundation of VU Confucius Institute.

The Ambassador promised to make every effort to further promote cooperation in science, education and culture, academic exchanges between VU and Chinese research institutions.

Prof. A. Žukauskas explained to W. Ruixing, that relations of VU and China are developing furthermore successfully as "Since 2013 VU is supported by a large private Chinese company "Huawei". The company established the first academy of computer networks in the region and mobile business applications laboratory in the VU Faculty of Physics. Our students work with Huawei equipment".

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Almost 300 applicants for one place – the competition in international work placement programme Vulcanus in Japan is fierce. Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) nuclear energy masters student Edgaras Šmigeskis was among the lucky ones to win a work placement in a Japanese company.

The fifth annual edition of international university rankings ''QS World University Rankings by Subject'' published the world's top universities in different subject areas. For Architecture as well as Civil and Structural Engineering, they ranked the performance of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) the best among the Baltic countries.

Lithuania's Science and Education Minister Dainius Pavalkis has handed in his resignation letter to Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius.

From the 27th of April till 3rd of May ESN Lithuania organizes „Blood donation week"! Unpaid donation actions will take place in four biggest Lithuanian cities Vilnius, Kaunas, Šiauliai and Klaipėda during different days of this week.

Every day terrible disasters on the roads are shocking the audience of TV news, but the next morning people forget everything and rebel against the new laws, issued to ensure their safety on the roads. The laws seem for them unnecessary, ''fabricated'' by the government and too expensive. They think so, until they face the misfortune themselves. Professor Dr. Kai-Uwe Schmitt from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, who delivered a cycle of lectures on Injury Biomechanics for Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) students, persuades that any defensive driving measures are not going to protect anybody, unless traffic participants themselves change their way of thinking.

The researchers of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) developed an innovation, which is rushing into the Lithuanian construction sector. They put plastic inserts, resembling geometric cubes and forming voids, into the slabs of a building. The plastic inserts are much cheaper and facilitate the structures, reinforce sound insulation, reduce costs of materials and work. The technology can reduce the amount of concrete in construction even by forty percent, according to the latest calculations.

On April 20-22, the representatives of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) participated at the international exhibition GHEDEX, focusing on Higher Education, Training and Career Opportunities in the Sultanate of Oman. About eighteen thousand people from all over the Persian Gulf visited this international event.

European Space Agency (ESA) presented a number of institutions around the world with stunning images of a giant 3,000-star cluster of Westerlund 2 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Hubble Space Telescope. One of the photographs will also be delivered to the Molėtai Astronomical Observatory of the VU Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy. The giant star cluster captured in the picture is only about 2 million years old and contains some of our galaxy's hottest, brightest, and most massive stars.

In 2014, 3,862 libraries (2,561 of them in educational establishments), 632 culture centres, 104 museums, 39 theatres, 7 state concert organisations, 28 cinemas and film halls operated in Lithuania.