CLOSED BELARUSIAN UNIVERSITY OPENS 'VIRTUAL' BRANCH IN LITHUANIA

The European Humanities University (EHU), which was closed by Belarusian authorities in July, has registered a "virtual" educational division in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. The new educational initiative, called EHU-international, will start its via-the-Internet tuition for a projected group of 200 students later this month. EHU Deputy Rector Tatsyana Halko told that the EHU-international is negotiating with education officials in Italy, Germany, Poland, and Lithuanian to have its future baccalaureates recognized by these countries. After the closure of the EHU, some 200 students reportedly left Belarus to continue their education abroad, including in Poland, Germany, and the United States. Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said in September that the authorities closed the private EHU because the university's main goal was to educate a new Belarusian elite that would make the nation pro-Western.