Digital Document (pdf, doc, ppt, txt, etc.)

In September 2020, the Council of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) elected a new leadership, which started its five-years new term in October

New management teams at VMU

In September 2020, the Council of Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) elected a new leadership, which started its five-years new term in October. Professor Juozas Augutis was re-elected for the position of the Rector. The good news in terms of gender equality and women's representation is that the Council also approved a female vice-Rectors team. For the second term in a row, three women were elected to the vice-rector positions, with prof. Dr. Julija Kiršienė appointed as the Vice-rector for Research for the second term. The Vice-Rector for Studies became Dr. Simona Pilkienė, and the Vice-Rector for communication – assoc. prof. Vilma Bijeikienė. In addition, two more women were elected to the small Rector’s Council: prof. Lina Kaminskienė became the Chancellor of Education Academy and prof. Astrida Miceikienė – the Chancellor of Agriculture Academy. Consequently, five of the new small Rector’s Council members are women with strong leadership qualities.

Besides, the new VMU Council was elected in December 2020. It is a collegial governing body, which, after evaluating the proposals of the Senate, approves the vision and mission of the University, the strategic action plan submitted by the Rector, the procedure for organizing the Rector's election by public tender, reorganization or liquidation plans of the University, determines the management of university funds and assets, etc. The University Council consists of 11 members for five years and has an increased number of women. Compared to only one woman in the previous Council, this term, there are four women representatives. On December 2, 2020, Diana Vilytė, the Head of State Enterprise Centre of Registers, was approved as the new Chair of VMU Council. Three other female members of the Council, elected by the academic staff at VMU, are Auksė Balčytienė, Professor of the VMU Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, Rūta Petrauskaitė, Professor of the Faculty of Humanities, and Vilma Žydžiūnaitė, Professor of the Academy of Science.

The unity and well-being of the University's community is a priority.

The new Rector’s Council is set for a new term to unite the community to achieve jointly formulated goals, open opportunities to realize new ambitions in research and interdisciplinary studies, and create a more outstanding balance in self-governance and shared responsibility for quality. “Every voice in our community must be heard”, the Rector Augutis declares.

Furthermore, the Rector admits that the VMU community faces many challenges in these uneasy times. There is a lot of anxiety about the future, a great deal of external and internal bureaucracy, a lack of unity and communication with each other. Therefore, as the newly formed Rector’s Council envisions, it is essential to strive for better results in studies and research and enhance everyone's working /studying conditions, guaranteeing that every community member feels empowered to pursue their goals. "VMU must remain an institution, where diversity is valued, and the principles of academic ethics, equal opportunities and social responsibility are respected by all", states the Rector.

This is also apparent in the new VMU strategic plan for 2021–2027, as the new Rector’s Council is committed to engaging University's community by not only encouraging its members to strive for better results in studies and research but also by creating more favourable conditions and equal opportunities for achieving them. Previously director of VMU Studies Department, dr. Simona Pilkienė is a member of a new team. She starts in her new position with such an attitude: "The position of the Vice-Rector for Studies requires leadership, so I hope that I will be able to contribute to the successful achievement of the new strategic goals of the University. […] My goal is to be listening to the opinion of the community and make the decisions together with our community members", says Dr. Pilkienė in an interview, published in October 2020. According to the new Vice-Rector for Studies, it is important to communicate, negotiate and make the best decisions for the University together with the community. Working groups with different representatives will develop a new strategic plan and various programs for the University's future, and the key to its success is to listen to different voices and current needs. Hence, the new Rector’s Council is already working on the implementation of regular surveys and the new enhanced collection of data, as well as the community's feedback about their experiences and well-being at VMU.

In the new term, even more attention will be paid to ensuring the principles of equal opportunities, so that every member of the VMU community, regardless of their gender, race, nationality, citizenship, language, social status, religion, beliefs or views, has the same opportunities for realization and self-expression. Currently, Vytautas Magnus University is preparing a Gender Equality Plan, which, among other things, will focus on enhancing working conditions, enabling flexible working schedules and ensuring a better family/work balance, especially for those raising small children. Also, the SPEAR project team will help to set up new guidelines for creating a more sustainable, safe, socio-psychologically pleasant working/studying environment by drafting new documents, leading communication campaigns, organizing seminars and trainings.

A multilingual policy specialist assoc. prof. Vilma Bijeikienė has joined the Rector’s Council as a newly elected Vice-Rector for Communication. Having high expertise and a lot of international experience at foreign universities (University of Bergen, University of Manchester, Fordham University in New York and Creighton University in Omaha), assoc. prof. Bijeikienė is applying her broad knowledge and skills at VMU. In her leading role for developing a new, community-friendly strategic plan for 2021-2027, Vice-Rector for Communication assoc. prof. Vilma Bijeikienė is currently gathering various working groups related to community building questions, diversity, equality, and equal opportunities.

Artes liberals principles at VMU

Another fundamental goal for the newly elected Rector’s Council, according to the Vice-Rector for Studies dr. Pilkienė, is to strengthen the implementation of the principles of artes liberales in the study process. The ideals of artes liberales have been University's distinctive characteristic with the liberal principles, allowing a lot of flexibility and freedom of choice for the students. Dr. Pilkienė is convinced that University must maintain its progressive character and liberal values, creating space for creative thought, focusing on the quality of studies and research, interdisciplinarity, establishing successful international relations, etc. Importantly, she suggests, the concept of artes liberales studies at VMU should be strengthened by constructing broad programs so that the students can choose their own routes gradually, after getting more acquainted with the University and a broader field of studies of their choice without haste. Such a model would undoubtedly be more favourable to the students by way of allowing more time for making specific choices and by providing the students with knowledge that is much wider and of greater value. This also goes hand in hand with the University's aim for multidisciplinary and multi-directionality, bringing together the best scientific and academic potential; it would perfectly reflect the principles of artes liberales not only on a theoretical but also on concrete, practical level. That might also help attract more students, whose numbers have been steadily growing for the past several years, Dr. Pilkienė suggests. "We very much hope that the results of this year's admission will not only be maintained, but also improved, but this will require a lot of purposeful work," reveals the Vice-Rector for Studies in a conversation about the changes in studies to be implemented at the University.

Being one of the strongest universities in Lithuania, VMU ranks second in terms of student numbers, rising for two years in a row despite demographic challenges. As the Vice-Rector for Studies dr. Pilkienė suggests, in order to improve international rankings, VMU needs to implement only the highest quality study programs, which both Lithuanian and international students would value. The aim is that students would want to return and continue their studies at VMU at the postgraduate level – master and doctoral studies.

International success and leadership

Vice-Rector for research prof. Julija Kiršienė states that in the field of research, the aim is to strengthen the internationality of research by establishing research institutes in priority fields of science. According to her, it is equally important to foster international doctoral studies of high quality at VMU. Previously the Dean of the Faculty of Law and a VMU Senate member, professor of Law Julija Kiršienė is internationally engaged (takes part in international scientific research projects) and has a broader perspective on internalising research and research funding. One of the highest priorities for the new Rector’s Council, according to her, is increasing research funding in Lithuania (currently, it is only 0.9% of GDP, which is significantly less than the EU average (2.5%). Professor Kiršienė and the new Rector’s Council also envisages increasing the influence and visibility of the University by further strengthening cooperation with government and business structures. For University to produce more research of high quality, it is essential to increase collaboration between science and business, facilitate University's participation in Lithuanian and European academic and cultural life, foster engagement, and collaborate with society in general.

However, for achieving the goals of excellence and compete with other foreign and Lithuanian universities, the values of the community's well-being should not lose their importance. Striving for international acknowledgement and distinction, the University is preparing a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) which will help to put more focus on anti-discriminatory policy measures, transparency in the admission process, fairness and equal treatment. Moreover, as all the Vice-Rectors agree, for strengthening the position of the University, it is important to empower young researchers, especially – young female researchers, in their early career paths. One of the measures of GEP is to support female researchers by counselling, ensuring better working conditions, improving the organizational climate, etc. One concrete action, Gender-sensitive PhD supervision guidelines, is being prepared as part of the GEP and in accordance with the new Strategic Plan of VMU. Ensuring better conditions for family-work balance, paying more attention to sociopsychological well-being, arranging social climate surveys, focusing on human rights and values of equality are definitely stand as advantages in both national and international competition for excellence.

...

With the start of 2021, it is clear that the new Rector’s Council, where the majority of leaders are professional women will focus on mobilizing the University community, fostering values and democratic principles, enhancing the conditions for balancing personal and institutional responsibilities, improving self-governance and collaboration, creating better conditions and ensuring equal opportunities. Equal opportunities and gender equality are among the priorities for the next five years for University's leadership, which means that a lot of positive change can be expected in the near future.

References

Darbą pradeda nauja VDU rektorato komanda, 2020-10-02 (https://www.vdu.lt/lt/darba-pradeda-nauja-vdu-rektorato-komanda/).

Ateities studijų programos turėtų apimti kelias kryptis, 2020-10-12 (https://www.vdu.lt/lt/ateities-studiju-programos-turetu-apimti-kelias-kryptis/?fbclid=IwAR0vrwN2ixlpDhJ8cQsFH9F6IVawR5NONqX7RNIcyM4cjWJ6WssT0CleJw0).

Rektorius J. Augutis: „Rytojaus VDU – mūsų visų bendras reikalas“, 2020-10-23 (https://www.vdu.lt/lt/rektorius-j-augutis-rytojaus-vdu-musu-visu-bendras-reikalas/).

Members of Rector’s Council (https://www.vdu.lt/en/about-vmu/structure-and-management-of-vmu/rectors-council/members-of-rectors-council/).

Artes liberales tradicija ir jos vaidmuo Vytauto Didžiojo universitete (https://www.vdu.lt/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/31865.pdf).

Students elected their representative to VMU Council, 2020-12-10 (https://vdusa.lt/en/students-elected-their-representative-to-vmu-council/).

The starting point for developing an effective set of actions is to have a thorough understanding of how we (on an individual level), and our organization promote gender equality.

After assessing the state-of-play of the institution, we will know which measures need to be implemented.

With this blog, we try to make an overview of existing self-assessment scales for measuring gender equality, as well as to create the theoretical foundations of self-assessment tools that would apply to future GE work of the South-West University team. First and foremost, the tool will serve as a self-assessment of the planned activities and measure the self-reflection and self-evaluation in different activities to establish if they are gendered.

Our main idea regarding awareness-raising is built upon the projection of the usefulness of self-assessment tools and the necessity of a new individual approach in their usage. We think that the results will show us an acceptable way of achieving permanent organizational and individual change in the informativity and reflection regarding gender equality. Our intention aligns with the research of the European Youth Centre at Strasbourg that demonstrates that this kind of feedback is needed to show the necessity of raising awareness, the necessity to speak about equal rights and treatment “no matter the gender, age, race, sexuality and nationality” (Milojevic, Beronja, & Duhacek, 2017: 12).

There are currently many self-assessment tools designed based on theoretical grounds and gathered experiences in various organizations and their gender equality projects (FESTA, TARGET, Gender4STEM, IPPF, EYCS, WHO, etc.). Based on the projects’ thematic approach, the different self-assessment tools inquire on the perception of certain social and organizational spheres and individual attitudes. The existing tools allow gathering data for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the current organizational state, forms of individual and organizational resistance, conscious and unconscious biases and stereotypes, and overall cognitive attitudes on an individual level. According to EIGE, “Quantitative indicators are mostly used to monitor the change statistically and to get an overview on the issues, while qualitative data grasps the experiences and opinions, therefore, understanding the mechanisms behind these issues and capture “the quality of change” (EIGE, 2020). Therefore, practitioners must take into consideration both quantitative and qualitative indicators due to the differentiation in monitoring changes. Data usually shows problematic spheres where the implementation of future measures and actions are needed. Thus, the results from the self-assessment tools will benefit us in facilitating the implementation of GEPs.

Our general idea is related to the search for ways to create a new and alternative approach to the usage of self-assessment tools. We intend to accomplish the latter by combining specific related scientific and organizational tasks such as:

• popularization of the idea with blogs and scientific papers;
• organization of virtual seminars during which the assessment tools will be used;
• discussions with project partners and exchange of experience and good practices.

This first blog aims to establish the conceptual frame of self-assessment scales for measuring gender equality as a tool for awareness-raising. It will be followed by a second one that will reflect on their usage’s main outputs and evaluation. Consequently, the initial stage will deal with introducing our idea by presenting the aims and objectives. The next stage, presented as a second blog, will deal with applying our approach on three-day virtual seminars and gathering empirical data. The seminars’ additional purpose is to raise awareness on GE and familiarize the participants (academic staff members, administrative staff, PhD Students, BA and MA student, stakeholders) with GEPs implementation’s objectives. By doing that we project to achieve specific results both in theory and practice. In a third, separate blog, we will present the main misconceptions in a Bulgarian context concerning gender-sensitive language and apply a critical approach in overcoming them. The third blog will draw some of its conclusions based on the empirical results from the second one.

All of the described activities, which are part of searching and establishing a new and alternative approach in using self-assessment scales, aimed to achieve eight main objectives:

• Establishing an alternative approach towards self-assessment scales’ usage;
• Aim at awareness-raising about the importance of gender equality at SWU;
• Assessment tools adapted into Bulgarian context;
• Typology of misconceptions. Recognizing conscious and unconscious biases;
• Assessment of the existing policies at SWU and whether they meet an acceptable standard of gender equity;
• Awareness raising and critical thinking towards GE topics;
• Awareness raising and determine the misconceptions on GE based on biased concepts and terminology;
• Facilitating the implementation of GEP at SWU.

REFERENCES:

EIGE, 2020. In: https://eige.europa.eu/gender-statistics/dgs

Milojevic, D., Beronja, J.R. & Duhacek, N. (2017). SAGE: Self-Assessment on Gender Equality. European Youth Centre Strasbourg.

The general impact of confinement measures in the academic performance of professors and researchers has been a subject of interest, mainly because most of working professors and researchers are also parents, some with young children in their care.

The COVID-19 has caused substantial disruptions to academic activities:

• Working parents have to balance their time between academic responsibilities, childcare and domestic tasks;
• Professors have to ensure online lectures for their students, sometimes using pre-recorded lessons, in order to mitigate the distance;
• Researchers have to adapt to a new reality, which constrains the lab work to a minimum.

The general impact of confinement measures in the academic performance of professors and researchers has been a subject of interest, mainly because most of working professors and researchers are also parents, some with young children in their care. It is a matter of public discussion that COVID-19 is having an uneven influence with those with child/adult care responsibilities – particularly women. Female professors and researchers have been facing more difficulties to publish their research due to the confinement caused by COVID-19, according to data that show that women's publishing success dropped after schools closed [1, 2]. A recent study indicates a sharp decrease in original research-papers submissions by female researchers in several international journals, during confinement caused by COVID-19 [3]. As the novel virus reveals an endeavour to researchers in the medical and health sciences disciplines, the proportion of published papers in such fields dramatically increased to promptly allow results dissemination. In this regard, female publication success during this period should have increased, not decreased, since women have been increasing their representativeness in these fields [4, 5]. This fact illustrates the confinement effect on women's publication records and at the preprint and journal submission stages.

In Portugal, COVID-19 has affected professors and researchers similarly, as in other countries, facing the same challenges. Aware of this, SPEAR partner, NOVA University Lisbon, has been laying foundations towards a more equal-opportunities-academic environment that aims to implement gender-sensitive policies and help reduce the institutional gender gap.

The data on the effects of COVID-19 in female academics are still scarce. However, there are two research projects ongoing, specifically devoted to exploring the effects of the pandemic at the national level. The only empirical research already documenting the impact of COVID-19 in the work conditions and academic performance of women in Portuguese research institutions has been carried out by the University of Coimbra, within the framework of the SUPERA project. Based on a survey questionnaire of teaching and research staff, the findings shed light on gender inequalities that are shaping COVID's impact on working conditions, work-life balance, and academic time usage and efficacy. It has been particularly more difficult to academic women, especially younger mothers in non-tenure-track positions.

In Portugal, academic women seem to be more exposed to not only the severity of psychological/emotional effects of the COVID-19 crisis but also to the increased burden of domestic and care duties during confinement. Moreover, the pandemic appears to affect disproportionately the housework and care routines of women (especially younger academic mothers), as well as the personal routines of female academics, who reported more often a reduction of leisure time during the lockdown.

The increased household and emotional burdens arising from COVID restrictions also affect the work-family negotiations and conflicts, posing differentiated challenges to reconcile the competing time demands of paid work and family. Substantial differences are observed between men and women perceptions of how the pandemic has affected their work. Female academics and academics with young children in the household most frequently emphasise the influence of COVID-19 on the amount of time dedicated to professional work. Moreover, when analysing the changes on time allocation to the various domains of the academic activity, one can observe that the reinforcement of teaching and administrative tasks during the confinement is specially bound to female dedication. In the case of young mothers, the priority given to teaching occurs at the expense of research activities (e.g., manuscript and grant writing, peer review and serving on funding panels) which are critical to career progression.

The study also gives important insights on the extent to which the distinctive burdens imposed by the lockdown to female scientists and scientists with young children impacted academic productivity. Nevertheless, it is too early to get a complete picture of this impact, as the lockdown period has been relatively short compared to normative research timelines. The outputs considered to explore the effects of the pandemic in academic productivity were mainly of scientific character but also connected to pedagogical activities, knowledge transfer and dissemination. When solely considered, neither gender nor parental status significantly affected the changes in academic output observed during the “stay home order”. Nonetheless, when considered in combination, gender and parental status displayed a significant influence in the differences observed between the pre-pandemic and pandemic period, placing female scientists with children up to 12 in a particular disadvantage.

Moreover, women without children and men with and without children have increased their output submission during the confinement, whereas younger academic mothers faced an inverse trend. This difference may further aggravate the gap between men and women, as said institutions have an increasingly research-oriented strategy. This may translate into a significant disproportion of the performance management policies regarding tenure, recognition and promotion since most academic careers evolve directly from strong publication records and academic performance [6].

Although limited in scale and scope, this study provides sound quantitative evidence highlighting gender disparities in how the pandemic has affected the scientific workforce in Portugal. Academic institutions and funding organisations should consider the inequalities regarding not only academic productivity but also material and non-material working conditions to put in place some measures. The metrics to assess funding and academic position applications rely on bibliometric indicators that tend to be unidimensional. Therefore, a requirement for academic assessment and monitoring should include institutional measures to promote career development and talent retention, a more diverse and inclusive working environment, and family-friendly policies. These would be important to provide resources for early-career academics, particularly women with young children, to attenuate the negative effects of academic productivity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.