From 30th October to 1st November 2015 BALTECH, in cooperation with Riga Technical University Students parliament, held a meeting between all student unions of technical universities in Baltic States- Tallinn University of Technology, Riga Technical University, Kaunas University of Technology and Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Student Unions.
Representatives met for two main purposes. Firstly, students compared the situation in terms of rising numbers of international students and issues regarding this- lack of English knowledge, translation of infrastructure, integration problems and many more. Good examples were shared in between unions of what can students do in order to ease everyday lives of foreign students. As it was concluded in feedback, these ideas motivated students to develop this topic and make it more significant in the viewpoint of university administration.
Secondly, the future of BALTECH was discussed. Students of RTU, VGTU, KTU and TTU expressed their opinions on what should be done within BALTECH regarding student activity. Main points included increased mobility between technical universities of Baltic States, project funds, scholarships, engineering competitions and, of course, funds for student meeting every year. Main idea of student meetings could be working on a specific topic and creating a policy paper about it. As concluded in the brainstorm, the topic could be input from rectors of universities.
Overall, the meeting gave the opportunity for student representatives to meet and share their experiences, compare the systems they are working in, discuss a serious topic of international students and situations they are working with, as well as creating stronger sense of students of Baltic States as a united student body.