The Best Students of the VU Faculty of Medicine have been Awarded John and Ida Valauskas Endowment Sub-fund Scholarships

At the Council meeting scholarships from the John and Ida Valauskas Endowment Sub-fund were awarded to the strongest students academically of the VU Faculty of Medicine. The Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Dalius Jatužis, presented symbolic scholarship checks to the students and noted an increase, year on year, in the number of students with excellent academic results at the Faculty of Medicine.

“I would like to congratulate and commend all students who have done so well in their studies – you are undoubtedly the future of our faculty and also the field of medicine in Lithuania and the world. Today we can congratulate the best of the best. We are delighted to see you here; we all admire your diligent and high-quality work!” the professor enthused.

“Efforts, conscientiousness and patience are the cornerstones of success in studying at the Faculty of Medicine. By evaluating students for outstanding academic results we show that we believe in them, appreciate their efforts and encourage them to be even more persistent,” Vice-Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Assoc. Prof. Laura Nedzinskienė, noted.

So far, only Lithuanian students could apply for scholarships from the John and Ida Valauskas fund. This year it was decided to support not only Lithuanian, but also international students. “Over the decade that students from abroad have been participating in our programmes in the English language, they have become an integral part of our faculty community. At all levels we are striving for maximum integration, so the decision to allow them to compete for the scholarship, has evolved naturally,” added the Vice-Dean.

This year, scholarships of EUR 225 have been awarded to the following students:

• Jonas Navalinskas (study programme in Medicine in Lithuanian, 4^th year)
• Nina Natha Mueller (study programme in Medicine in English, 4^th year)
• Gabija Vilutytė (study programme in Medicine in Lithuanian, 5^th year)
• Nima Ahadpour Bakhtiari (study programme in Medicine in English, 5^th year)
• Kristijonas Puteikis (study programme in Medicine in Lithuanian, 6^th year)
• Alon Vainger (study programme in Medicine in English, 6^th year)

All students of the Faculty of Medicine with excellent study results are able to compete for the scholarship, provided they have not previously received the scholarship from this fund and have completed at least five semesters on the programme. Scholarships are awarded in March every year. The main criterion for awarding the scholarships is the individual academic performance achieved by a student.

Last year, the remaining 45,000 euros in the John and Ida Valauskas Foundation was used to form an endowment subfund of the same name within the Vilnius University Foundation. The professional investment strategy of the Vilnius University Foundation will ensure not only the growth of the endowment sub-fund, but also an increase in the value of scholarships in the future.

_

More about newly established sub-fund.