Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania)
Location
V. Putvinskio st. 23-418, 44243 Kaunas, Republic of Lithuania
Contact
gjo-vm[at]tufs.ac.jp
*[at] should be changed to @.
Established
13 Mar. 2017
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Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) is a national university in the second largest city of Lithuania, Kaunas. Due to the heroics of the former vice consul of Japan to Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara, the people of Kaunas hold much interest in Japan, and after becoming independent in 1996, the first Japanese course in Lithuania was established at VMU. Thanks to the efforts of the head of the VMU Centre for Asian Studies, Aurelijus Zykas (Japanese politics and diplomacy specialist), 35 out of 90 first year students enrolled in the East Asian Studies Program chose to study Japanese, and many of them aspire to go on exchange to Japan.
Meanwhile, since 2009, TUFS has been the only university in Japan to offer Lithuanian classes, with over 50 students registering every year, and it has been said that these students have much interest in and knowledge on Lithuania and Baltic countries.
At this time, a proposal between TUFS and VMU to become partner universities was made, and on 13th March 2017, the signing of this partnership contract was held at VMU. The twelfth Global Japan Office was also opened at VMU at this time. Through the Global Japan Office, TUFS aims to cooperate with the VMU Centre for Asian Studies to promote the spread of Japanese language education and Japanese culture, and to strengthen Japan-Lithuania relations.