Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) is an international university located in Vilnius and Kaunas, Lithuania. Modern, creative and entrepreneurial academic community has raised MRU to the leading university in social sciences and interdisciplinary research in Lithuania. MRU cooperates closely with over 300 universities, public and private institutions, takes part in academic, professional and inter-sectorial networks. MRU has a full membership of the following international higher education organizations: International Association of Universities, European University Association, European Association for International Education, European-Asian Knowledge Consortium Social Technologies for Smart and Inclusive Society, etc.
Currently MRU enrolls 7500 students including 600 international students and employs over 400 academic staff. The university offers doctoral, Master’s and Bachelor’s Degree study programmes. Over 80% of them have international accreditation. The most popular study programmes are law, management, public administration, psychology, social work, public security, etc. About 200 doctoral students study in the fields of law, management, psychology, philology, economics, and educational science.
MRU is structured within the Faculty of Economics and Business, The School of Law, the Faculty of Public Governance, the Academy of Public Security, Institute of Communication, Institute of Humanities, Institute of Educational Sciences and Social Work and the Institute of Psychology. Research and innovation is implemented at the Social Innovations Laboratory Network MRU LAB that includes 16 laboratories and the Research and Innovation Support Centre.
MRU fosters a culture of research and innovation: carries out fundamental and applied research, takes part in national and international research programmes and projects, engages in contracted research, implements Ph.D. studies, organizes academic and mobility events, and widely disseminates research results. MRU research and innovation is carried out in the framework of the interdisciplinary priority research area Social Innovations for Global Growth and 5 research programmes:
- Justice, Security and Human Rights;
- Social Technologies;
- Sustainable Growth in the Context of Globalization;
- Improving the Quality of Life and Advancing Employment Opportunities;
- Continuity and Change of Values in Global Society.
Outreach to society, research communication and academic events serve as important means of disseminating research results and bring together researchers, public and private sector leaders and different societal groups. Each year MRU organizes over 100 academic events: conferences, seminars, workshops, trainings, etc. Since 2013 aiming to popularize interdisciplinary research results and involve society in research processes, a cycle of public lectures Research Café were carried out attracting researchers, students, partners and other stakeholders. For example, past Research Café events in the area of energy include Management of Renewable Energy Resources (leader – assoc. prof. dr. A.Stasiukynas), Does Lithuania need a Nuclear Power Plant? (leader – prof. dr. D. Štreimiekienė).
Appearances in the media are another means of research communication to society. Journalists often approach researchers for interviews and comments, researchers take an active stand in publishing research-based solutions to societal challenges in news portals, newspapers, journals, comment on the radio, TV or social media. Annually we calculate about 500 media appearances.
Educational events targeted at different groups of society also take place at the university. For example, such events as Test the Profession, Become a Student for One Day or 10 MRU academies targeted at high school students could also be mentioned. Summer schools can serve as another vehicle of science communication. The most significant annual summer schools include Transparency School (held in partnership with Transparency International), International School on Human Rights (held in partnership with French, German, British, Polish, Italian universities, co-funded by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union), Science and Art of Communication, etc. Saturday schools as for instance, Mediation School, attracting numerous members of the society has been organized at MRU.
MRU has modern and innovative infrastructure: recently built premises surrounded by green areas, the latest research and educational ICT equipment, one of the most modern academic libraries in Europe, open access to research resources, research and innovation management platforms, online studies facilities, etc. According to the latest data of Rotten WiFi the quality of WiFi places MRU in second place among universities in the world. Due to university infrastructure, managerial experience and broad cooperation networks international organizations tend to choose MRU for organization of their academic events.
Source: Mykolas Romeris University
