Rector of the European Humanities University Vilius Šadauskas expects the number of Belarusian students to decline, though not drop to zero, after the institution was designated an “extremist organisation” in Belarus. He said this in an interview with LRT. He also outlined the most obvious risks for the university’s staff and students. It should be noted that Belarusian authorities have in recent years regularly used extremism charges to target opponents of Lukashenka and dissent.
“Overall, we — myself as rector, the governing board and our partners — assess this decision as unprecedented. We are likely the first university to be declared an extremist organisation, even though our activities are education, research and public enlightenment.
Despite the fact that most of our community operates in Lithuania, the possibility of returning home for students and staff who have relatives in Belarus poses a serious challenge. Every crossing of the border becomes a potential risk — there may be sanctions or political, legal persecution due to ties with the university. This is the biggest risk,” he said.
According to the rector, in the week since the decision by the Supreme Court of Belarus to designate EHU an “extremist organisation”, there have been several cases where students successfully returned from Belarus to Lithuania. However, Šadauskas recommends avoiding crossing the border.
“Our main recommendation — both from the university and from the Lithuanian authorities we cooperate with — is strictly not to travel to Belarus or cross the border unless absolutely necessary. The security guarantees provided by Lithuania’s legal framework and the university apply only within Lithuania,” he added.
He noted that EHU strengthened security measures back in 2024, when Belarusian propagandists first began discussing the possibility of declaring the university an “extremist organisation”. Since then, “the number of trips by staff across the border has significantly decreased.”
“As for students, we constantly reminded them of these recommendations, however after the official announcement, as far as I know, student crossings of the border from Lithuania have now completely stopped,” he said.
Šadauskas also does not believe that Belarusian students will completely abandon EHU.
“I will not hide that we have been assessing changes in the number of applicants since last year, when our activity on social media was declared extremist. We believe the number of applicants from Belarus may decrease.
However, we do not see this as an inevitable scenario. We have observed another trend — some students, frightened, left their studies, while others, on the contrary, chose to enrol or return (after academic leave), seeing this as an opportunity to move to Europe.
Nevertheless, in the current situation, we believe the number of applicants from Belarus will certainly not be zero, but it will be significantly lower. This is reflected in our public communication and in the marketing of educational programmes — we are working more actively with other target audiences.
This does not mean that the university is changing its mission or target group, but we are ready to balance for financial stability by attracting students from other countries,” he said.
According to him, Belarusian students currently make up 74% of EHU’s student body. In addition, the university admits children of people who emigrated from Russia after 2022, as well as citizens of Ukraine. In recent years, it has also been in demand among Russian-speaking residents of Lithuania. Master’s programmes include students from Western Europe, Scandinavian countries, Georgia, Moldova, Latvia and Poland.
The rector said he was not aware of any detentions linked to the recent decision to designate EHU an “extremist organisation”.
Šadauskas suggested that the decision by Belarusian authorities could “untie the university’s hands”.
“I think many answers to these questions will become clearer in the coming months. Nevertheless, the main vector of potential partnerships and development remains linked to the academic sphere — education, research and public outreach in a broad sense.
We already have a media and communications programme, and journalistic research is being conducted. The involvement of social partners, which declined after 2024, will likely gradually recover, and partnerships will be rebuilt — I have little doubt about that.
However, that the university will radically change its direction and move away from its academic mission — I do not believe that,” he said.
According to him, in 2024, amid threats from Belarusian authorities, EHU distanced itself from some social partners whose activities had already been declared “extremist”.
“Therefore, security measures were introduced — reducing interaction, increasing distance from certain institutions, and abandoning some formats of cooperation. Perhaps this is partly why discussions about new opportunities are now emerging — because previously a greater distance was deliberately created between programmes and their social partners,” he explained.
The EHU rector assured that the university will continue its work.
“First of all, the community needs to ‘process’ this fact. Last week was emotionally very difficult — there was a lot of tension, uncertainty and shock. This feeling still persists.
Then students will begin to make decisions — some have already done so, but this process will take time. It concerns decisions to continue studies or leave.
As for the university itself, we will continue our work. This is our obligation to the students and staff who remain, but it is also a matter of principle — such decisions, which contradict the principles of international and academic freedom, will not shut the university down.
We will continue to do what we have been doing so far: carry out admissions, implement the educational process and fulfil our mission,” he said in response to a question about how the situation will develop.
The full interview can be read on the LRT website.