VMU Works on Project Funded by the European Union
Together with another 9 Lithuanian universities and research centres, Vytautas Magnus University is implementing the project Development of the Preparation of High Qualification Specialists for the Expansion of Science-Intensive Economic Sub-Sectors – NKPDOKT. The project is financed in accordance with the third strategy priority direction of the European Union’s Human Resources Development Operational Programme, the Strengthening of Capacities of Researchers and Scientists.
The NKPDOKT project, set to run for three years, will work towards the increase of doctoral students’ qualifications and encourage their mobility, preparing specialists who will be able to successfully write and defend doctoral dissertations. After graduation, specialists will possess sufficient competences to conduct high-quality research projects and generate new product ideas.
The Vice-Rector for Research Prof. Juozas Augutis expressed his support for the project: “During the implementation of the project NKPDOKT, doctoral students are conducting scientific research that is close both in content and quality to the themes of the National Integrated Programme and meets the needs of the state and the public. Doctoral programmes are also updated during this project, by adapting them to the demands of the science-sensitive economic sub-sectors”.
The project is expected to directly influence activities of 87 doctoral students of biology, biochemistry, biophysics, pharmacy, medicine, history, ecology, environmental science and other areas. Doctoral students will prepare scientific publications, take part in international conferences, conduct all kinds of research and visit the most advanced universities around the world on scholarships throughout the duration of the project.
The students will undergo assessments at the end of every semester. At the moment, each of them is preparing the second report on activities performed in February-June which is to be presented in their departments at the end of June. Doctoral students who receive positive assessments will continue their scientific research.
The project was initiated due to the Lithuanian scientists’ lagging behind their colleagues from the most developed countries in terms of qualification level, which was caused by the especially rapid development of biotechnologies, materials science and nanotechnologies. This resulted in the failure to ensure effective international relations and prevented applications of science for business interests in the aforementioned areas of progress. Consequently, the preparation of qualified specialists needed in the development of those areas of progress is hampered by negative influence. Thus the NKPDOKT project was conceived as one of the ways to solve these problems.
The project was launched on 1 September 2010 by Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas University of Technology, Klaipėda University, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Lithuanian University of Agriculture, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vilnius University, Centre for Physical Sciences and Technology at the State Research Institute, Centre for Innovative Medicine at the State Research Institute and the Nature Research Centre. It is scheduled to be completed by the end of January 2014. The main coordinator of the project is the Research Council of Lithuania.
For more information about the project, please direct your inquiries to the Director of the VMU Office of Science Daiva Sabonienė (d.sabonienė@mt.vdu.lt).
