Education and Science, Lithuania

The higher school was recognized as operating in exile due to political reasons.

Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevicius told the government sitting that this status would allow ensuring the continuity of the university's operation.

The recently adopted amendments in Lithuania allow setting special assessment criteria for universities operating in forced emigration, compared to other higher schools.

The EHU was under threat of closure due to negative assessment but Education Minister Algirdas Monkevicius issued a new permit for the university to continue operating in early April. The latest conclusion gave a negative grade to several EHU programs.

The EHU is a private university, established in Minsk in 1992, but was later closed down by Belarus' authorities. Reopened in Vilnius in 2004, it enrolls nearly 800 students, including 95% from Belarus.

Over 3,000 people have already graduated from this university, including over 2,000 who received their diplomas in Vilnius.

The European Commission, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and Lithuania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs are the EHU's key financial donors.