Competition for international practice with the Erasmus program in all countries of the world

The competition for Erasmus+ students or recent graduates traineeship in all countries is now open! The application deadline is February 28, 2025.

(Application period for EU/EEA countries is OPEN every month!)

The placement period is from 2 to 4 months. Recent graduate traineeship must end – a year after graduation.

Note! For recent graduate traineeship applications must be submitted and students must be selected while the applicant is still a student at VMU.

You can only apply for one traineeship place – multiple mobilities are not possible.

Selection

All VMU full-time degree students who have not used more than 10 months of their Erasmus+ mobility (study/traineeship) period are eligible for the Erasmus+ grant.

Selection documents (Documents must be submitted online):

For student traineeship (traineeship during student’s year of studies):

For recent graduate traineeship (application must be submitted during the last year of studies):

The priority in the selection is given to:

  • students whom traineeship is an obligatory part of their study programme;
  • students who have never been Erasmus traineeship students before.

Selection criteria:

  • student’s motivation;
  • good knowledge of the language which will be used during the traineeship;
  • student’s work, study, traineeship, participation in international/academic projects, and social activities experience in Lithuania and abroad;
  • conformability between the chosen traineeship and the student’s study programme;
  • study results (first-year MA students should attach a transcript of records of their BA/MA degree to the application form).

Traineeship grants

For EU and EEA countries:

Country group Country Monthly scholarship size
Group I Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, France, Finland, Sweden, Germany. 824,00 Eur
Group II Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Latvia, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia. 824,00 Eur
Group III Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Turkey. 756,00 Eur

For Non-EU/EEA countries:

The scholarship is 700,00 Eur/month + travel scholarship.

13 and 14 region countries scholarship is 824,00 Eur/month + travel scholarship.

Region 13: Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City State.
Region 14: Faroe Islands, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

Additional travel scholarship (the size is determined by the distance* from Lithuania (Kaunas city) to the location (city) of the practice organization):

Travel distance Ecological travel (total): Non-ecological travel (total):
10-99 km 56 EUR 28 EUR
100-499 km 285 EUR 211 EUR
500-1999 km 417 EUR 309 EUR
2000-2999 km 535 EUR 395 EUR
3000-3999 km 785 EUR 580 EUR
4000-7999 km 1 1188 EUR 1 188 EUR
8000 km or more 1 735 EUR 1 735 EUR

 

Note: travels up to 500 km. must be ecological travels! It means traveling by bus, train, car, etc. Otherwise, you will need to submit a form with the reason why you chose to travel non-ecological.

The competition results will be sent to every participant via e-mail.

Note: Application results are published next month (10th of the upcoming month), therefore, the traineeship start date should be at least two weeks after that day. The competition results will be published via e-mail.

More information:

Traineeships programme coordinator Marius Mikalauskas
Address: V. Putvinskio str. 23, room 207.
Phone: +370 37 788 149
Email: Marius.Mikalauskas@vdu.lt

International Scientific and Practice Conference: WELL-BEING OF THE CHILD AND FAMILY

The Department of Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University, together with its partners, is organizing an International conference to discuss the changes taking place in the field of child and family well-being in social, economic, political and cultural contexts, shaping and changing the well-being of children and families.

The conference will take place on 15-16 October 2024 at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania.

These changes, which have both positive and negative impacts, include changes in family structure, transformations in social networks, in the labour market, financial support, laws and education policies, changes in values, migration and the geopolitical situation, the impact of digital technologies, online learning, access to health care, the challenge of public health and climate change.

The conference aims to bring together Lithuanian and foreign social science and social work researchers, practitioners, policy makers, students and community members – all those working and interested in the field of child and family welfare.

We invite you to share research findings, ideas and practice insights and to submit presentations on the following topics:

  • Transformative social work with the family
  • The role of social work in responding to changes in family structure and roles
  • Social work response to intergenerational interactions in the family
  • Social work during family crisis
  • Visibility of the child in family social work practice
  • Psychosocial counselling: prevention and intervention
  • Family health and well-being: an integrated approach
  • Traditional and innovative social work approaches
  • Social work with groups as method to strengthen the family
  • Family and technology: challenges and opportunities for social work in the digital era
  • Social work with migrant families
  • Impact of climate change on child and family well-being

Photo exhibition “Geography of Permanence” at the Faculty of Social Sciences

The main subject of this photography series is the community of the Benedictine Sisters of Kaunas, and even though the photographs depict only a small portion of the community, the latter can’t only be defined by its current members. It also includes former members and an imagined future generation. Therefore, the perception of time within a community is not entirely linear; it’s more dynamic, based on and informed by the spaces and objects that surround people. This close relationship between time and materiality creates a new geography of permanence in which past, present, and future members of the community exist in dialogue.

The photographs in this exhibition portray a new communal concept of time and space: a radically resistant chrono-geography that remembers everyone, speaks with everyone, and connects everyone (whether they are past, present, or future members of the community).

The exhibition will take place in the VMU Faculty of Social Sciences (Jonavos g. 66, Kaunas) from May 10th until June 30th.

* * *

Curator and artist: Jūra Lazauskaitė

Graphic design: Agnė Ašmontaitė

The photographs depict the Church of Saint Nicholas (of Benedictine Sisters) and Sisters Paulina Aleksandra Vanagaite and Kotryna Indre Surkute.

The exhibition curator expresses her gratitude for Benedictine Sisters for their trust and time, as well as the VMU Art Gallery “101” for helping to prepare the exhibition.

Prof. David Sutton “Making Taste Sustainable”   

Center for Social Anthropology (VMU) are inviting you for a research seminar by  the visiting anthropologist:

Prof. David Sutton (Southern Illinois University)
Title of Presentation: “Making Taste Sustainable”
Date: May 10, 2024, at 3:00 p.m.
Place: Faculty of Social Sciences, Jonavos Street. 66, Room 112.

About the lecture:

When and how does taste matter? As we face various crises, economic, ecological, social and cultural, what role does taste play in various efforts at sustainability? Drawing from my work on the importance of a gustemological approach—a taste-based worldview—this talk will present research very much in progress and focusing on the different ways that understanding taste in context can help make sense of sustainability or regenerative practices in Greece and elsewhere. 

About the author:

David Sutton (PhD University of Chicago, 1995) is a Professor of Anthropology specializing in Anthropological Theory, Historical Consciousness and Memory, Food and the Senses, Movies and Material Culture. He does research primarily on the island of Kalymnos (the Sponge Divers’ island) in Greece.

Recent publications include a consideration of cooking and anthropological theories of continuity and change entitled Bigger Fish to Fry: A Theory of Cooking as Risk, with Greek Examples (Berghahn Press, 2022).

For a preview, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFZ2UGZFxxE

For more information about the Author please see: https://cola.siu.edu/anthro/facultyandstaff/faculty/sociocultural/sutton.php

Erasmus+ Traineeship Competition

Competition is open for Erasmus+ students or recent graduate traineeship grants for traineeships in any EU/EEE country. The application deadline is the 30th of April, 2024.

The placement period is from 2 to 6 months. Recent graduate traineeship must end – a year after graduation.

Note! For recent graduate traineeship applications must be submitted and students must be selected while the applicant is still a student at VMU. You can only apply for one traineeship place – multiple mobilities are not possible.

Selection

All VMU full-time degree students who have not used more than 10 months of their Erasmus mobility (study/traineeship) period are eligible for the Erasmus grant.

Selection documents

For student traineeship (traineeship during student’s year of studies):

Documents must be submitted online.

For recent graduate traineeship (application must be submitted during the last year of studies):

The priority in the selection is given to:

  • students whom traineeship is an obligatory part of their study programme;
  • students who have never been Erasmus traineeship students before.

Selection criteria:

  • student’s motivation;
  • good knowledge of the language which will be used during the traineeship;
  • student’s work, study, traineeship, participation in international/academic projects, and social activities experience in Lithuania and abroad;
  • conformability between the chosen traineeship and the student’s study programme;
  • study results (first-year MA students should attach a transcript of records of their BA/MA degree to the application form).

Traineeship grants:

For EU and EEA countries:

Country group Country Monthly scholarship size
Group I Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Sweden, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland 824,00 Eur
Group II Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Netherlands, Malta, Portugal 824,00 Eur
Group III Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Turkey 756,00 Eur

For Non-EU/EEA countries:

The scholarship is 700,00 Eur/month.

Travel grant (depends on the distance between sending and receiving institutions):

  • 100-499 km – 180,00 Eur
  • 500-1999 km – 275,00 Eur
  • 2000-2999 km – 360,00 Eur
  • 3000-3999 km – 530,00 Eur
  • 4000-7999 km – 820,00 Eur
  • More than 8000 km – 1500,00 Eur

Additional travel grants for green traveling options.

The competition results will be sent to every participant via e-mail.

Note: Application results are published next month (10th of the upcoming month), therefore traineeship start date should be at least two weeks after that day. The competition results will be published via e-mail.

More information:

Traineeships programme coordinator Marius Mikalauskas
Address: V. Putvinskio str. 23, room 207
Phone: +370 37 788 149
Email: Marius.Mikalauskas@vdu.lt

Happy Easter!

Easter afternoon with international SSF students

Before Easter holidays international students of the Faculty of Social Sciences were invited to a creative afternoon. Students had a chance to express their creativity in the old Lithuanian tradition of painting eggs and to taste delicious Lithuanian food. International relations coordinator Dovilė Daugėlienė took care of creating a cozy atmosphere to talk about experiences (successes and challenges) of international students as well. Ready for Easter!

Lectures with Professor Lisa Di Blas of the University of Trieste (Italy).

LISA DI BLAS is an associate professor in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste (Italy). She has authored and co-authored textbooks, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles also appeared in top ranked journals. She has chaired the 16th European Conference on Personality in 2012, and currently is associate editor of Current Research in Behavioural Sciences. Her main interests include personality assessment from different methodological and analytical approaches.

We invite you to two lectures with the assoc. prof. Lisa Di Blas:

MULTILEVEL MODELLING IN ORGANIZATIONAL AND WORK PSYCHOLOGY, ASSOC. PROF. LISA DI BLAS
19-03-2024; 13.30-16.00 JONAVOS G. 66 – 209-210 AUD.

Individuals mostly live in organized social settings, which may exert an influence on individuals who experience them. In organizational psychology, workers are part of multilevel and hierarchical systems. Multilevel modelling techniques allow to examine hierarchical data structures where individuals are nested in teams, teams in  departments, and so forth, with each position in these systems denoting a specific level to be taken into account. My aim is introducing this analytical approach and discuss how organizational and work psychology research may take advantages from adopting it.

LISA DI BLAS is an associate professor in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste (Italy). She has authored and co-authored textbooks, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles also appeared in top ranked journals. She has chaired the 16th European Conference on Personality in 2012, and currently is associate editor of Current Research in Behavioural Sciences. Her main interests include personality assessment from different methodological and analytical approaches.

THE STUDY OF PERSONALITY DYNAMICS, ASSOC. PROF. LISA DI BLAS
21-03-2024; 11.15-13.45 V. PUTVINSKIO G. 23 – 103 AUD. 

In these last decades, research has more and more focused on personality dynamics and better distinguished between relatively stable personality structures and more temporary appraisals of person-in-the-context. Accordingly, I present two main theoretical and methodological frameworks, the state-trait theory, and the Knowledge-and-Appraisal-Personality-Architecture model. They help consider personality dynamics from the perspective of dispositional and social-cognitive theories of personality. Results and potentials from these two approaches are discussed.

LISA DI BLAS is an associate professor in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste (Italy). She has authored and co-authored textbooks, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles also appeared in top ranked journals. She has chaired the 16th European Conference on Personality in 2012, and currently is associate editor of Current Research in Behavioural Sciences. Her main interests include personality assessment from different methodological and analytical approaches.

Erasmus+ Traineeship Competition

A competition is open for Erasmus+ student or recent graduate traineeship grants for traineeships in any country of the world. Application deadline is the 29th of February, 2024.

The placement period is from 2 to 6 months. Recent graduate traineeship must end – in a year after graduation.

Selection

All VMU full-time degree students who have not used more than 10 months of their Erasmus mobility (study/traineeship) period are eligible for the Erasmus grant.

Selection documents

For student traineeship (traineeship during student’s year of studies):

Documents must be submitted online.

For recent graduate traineeship (application must be submitted during the last year of studies):

The priority in the selection is given to:

  • students whom traineeship is an obligatory part of their study programme;
  • students who have never been Erasmus traineeship students before.

Selection criteria:

  • student’s motivation;
  • good knowledge of the language which will be used during the traineeship;
  • student’s work, study, traineeship, participation in the international/academic projects, social activities experience in Lithuania and abroad;
  • conformability between the chosen traineeship and student’s study programme;
  • study results (first year MA students should attach transcript of records of their BA/MA degree to the application form).

Traineeship grants:

For EU and EEA countries:

Country group Country Monthly scholarship size
Group I Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Sweden, United Kingdom, Liechtenstein, Norway 750,00 Eur
Group II Austria, Belgium, ,Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Netherlands, Malta, Portugal 750,00 Eur
Group III Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Turkey 690,00 Eur
Group IV Switzerland 700,00 Eur

For Non-EU/EEA countries:

Scholarship is 700,00 Eur/month.

Travel grant (depends on the distance between sending and receiving institutions):

  • 100-499 km – 180,00 Eur
  • 500-1999 km – 275,00 Eur
  • 2000-2999 km – 360,00 Eur
  • 3000-3999 km – 530,00 Eur
  • 4000-7999 km – 820,00 Eur
  • More than 8000 km – 1500,00 Eur

Additional travel grants for green travelling options.

The competition results will be sent to every participant via e-mail.

More information:

Traineeships programme coordinator Marius Mikalauskas

  • Address: V. Putvinskio str. 23, room 207.
  • Phone: +370 37 788 149
  • Email: Marius.Mikalauskas@vdu.lt

Study Exchange and Internship Opportunities for Students

International Cooperation Department invites all VMU students to take an opportunity and apply for studies, traineeship or short-term courses abroad.

These are enriching possibilities that strengthen self-improvement while expanding study knowledge and skills of foreign languages, facing the differences in the study systems, improving professional skills, exploring new cultures, finding new interests, making new friends and bringing unforgettable memories that build the foundation for the future career.

We offer four different options for international mobility:

More information

On February 20–22, VMU International Cooperation Department will organise Erasmus Days’24 where all students will be invited to learn more about mobility opportunities and join various interesting and meaningful initiatives.

More information about Erasmus Days