Фото: ЕГУ
After Belarusian authorities designated the European Humanities University an “extremist organisation” in April 2026, 100 students left the institution within a month. This was stated by EHU Rector Vilius Šadauskas in an interview with Radio Svaboda.
According to him, around 50 more students left the university after September last year, when authorities designated EHU’s website and social media accounts as “extremist”. The university currently has around 1,000 students. Around 70–75% of them are citizens of Belarus.
“We had two major events — in September last year [when Belarusian authorities designated EHU’s website and social media accounts as ‘extremist’] and on 14 April this year. Around 50 students left their studies in September last year. But at that time we had a very interesting situation because every day some students were leaving and someone else was returning from academic leave. So these two figures competed with each other, and it seems that 10 more students left than returned to continue studying. This also shows that some students see such a step as a last opportunity to come to Lithuania, to Vilnius, and leave Belarus.”, Šadauskas said.
“And now, from 14 April to 14 May, we lost 100 students. Our programmes at the Department of Humanities and Arts, the Department of Social Sciences, the Computer Science programme and the BISEB School of Business Economics together lost 100 students. We are now looking at the figures differently because there is also natural attrition, for example departures due to academic performance. We regard these changes over one month as a very clear outflow linked to the institution’s ‘extremist’ status.
Thus, we started the academic year with 1,600 students. That includes the specialised schools affiliated with EHU. And by 1 March, when our second semester began, we had 1,129 students. So at present the university has around 1,000 students. One hundred left because of its ‘extremist’ status.”, he added.
The rector warned prospective students from Belarus that enrolling at EHU could become “a one-way ticket” for them, since returning home afterwards could be dangerous. According to him, around 10 students were subjected to “conversations” with Belarusian security forces during holidays. The university does not rule out data leaks through questioning at the border, although, according to the rector, no breaches of IT systems have been recorded.
For new students from Belarus, EHU together with Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry is developing a mechanism for humanitarian visas. The university is also ready to provide accommodation in student housing for those who decide to move to Vilnius.
As previously reported, Belarus’ Supreme Court designated the EHU operating in Vilnius together with its structural divisions as an “extremist organisation”.
The Prosecutor General’s Office believes that the university prepares Belarusian youth “to implement Western scenarios for transforming the political system, promoting so-called democratic values and ‘alternative’ interpretations of historical, cultural and other events.”