During the meeting with Minister of Education and Science of Lithuania Dainius Pavalkis on Thursday, President Dalia Grybauskaite underlined the necessity to modernise vocational education and training system and turned her attention to the issue of sometimes non-transparent appointments of heads of vocational schools.

Meeting on 16-17 June, minsters looked at agriculture and fisheries issues, including progress on the proposal to revise the school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme, and the preparation of discard plans under the new fisheries rules.

The European Commission has today highlighted the importance of research and innovation (R&I) investments and reforms for economic recovery in the European Union, and made proposals to help EU Member States maximise the impact of their budgets at a time when many countries still face spending constraints. Increasing R&I investment is a proven driver of growth, while improving the efficiency and quality of public R&I spending is also critical if Europe is to maintain or achieve a leading position in many fields of knowledge and key technologies. The Commission has pledged support to Member States in pursuing R&I reforms best suited to their needs, including by providing policy support, world-class data and examples of best practice.

An agreement signed in Seoul today is a milestone in the global race to develop 5G mobile technologies. Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission for the Digital Agenda, and Mr Mun-Kee CHOI, South Korea's Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) have agreed to work towards a global definition of 5G and to cooperate in 5G research. They also agreed on the need for harmonized radio spectrum to ensure global interoperability and on the preparation of global standards for 5G.

Lithuanian animated film Non-Euclidean Geometry (Neeuklidine Geometrija) by Skirmanta Jakaite and Solveiga Masteikaite will be screened at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, Lithuanian Film Centre has announced.

The European Commission and the European Investment Bank Group (EIB) today launched a new generation of EU financial instruments and advisory services to help innovative firms access finance more easily. Over the next seven years, it is expected that the "InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators" products will make available more than €24 billion of financing for research and innovation (R&I) by small, medium and large companies and the promoters of research infrastructures. This finance is expected to support up to €48 billion of final R&I investments.

Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius who met with the Lithuanian National Union of Students on Thursday says that the voice and initiatives of youths are highly awaited.

The second edition of EU Code Week will take place 11-17 October 2014.

Lithuanian Education Trade Union (LSPS) will hold a teachers' rally on June 18 in Vilnius, demanding to increase education funding, prepare long-term teachers' payment raise programme which would take effect on 1 January 2015, and to ensure secure conditions in education establishments.

The European Commission has announced the list of universities selected for its 'European Master's in Translation' (EMT) Label. More than 60 institutions in 21 Member States will receive the Label, which recognises the best Master's degree courses for translators. The main goal of the EMT is to improve translator training and to attract top quality translators to the European institutions. Universities receiving the Commission's seal of approval are entitled to join the EMT network for the next five years and receive funding for lecturers to attend its annual conference and seminars.