MINSK, 23 September (BelTA) – The International University MITSO has become the first Belarusian university to sign the Magna Charta Universitatum Europearum, BelTA learned from the press service of the university.
The document was inked during the international conference “Values beyond 2015: the global challenge for universities and their students” held in the Italian city of Bologna the other day. The Charta was also signed by other 25 universities from different countries. Attending the ceremony were European Commission Director General for Education and Culture Xavier Prats Monne, former President of the European Commission and Italian ex-Prime Minister Romano Prodi, and Rector of the Bologna University Ivano Dionigi.
The International University MITSO was represented at the ceremony by First Vice Rector Gennady Podgornyi. He noted that, by signing the document, the university made another step towards the implementation of the principles of the European Higher Education Area (the Bologna Process) and the effective coordination of the educational efforts and scientific work at educational institutions and the society as a whole. “Thereby, we build trust between the universities at the national and international levels,” he emphasized.
The Magna Charta Universitatum Europearum was first signed by rectors of European universities in Bologna in 1988. The document is aimed at the integration of the systems of education and the development of the common area of higher education in Europe. So far, the Charta has been signed by 776 universities.
The MITSO press service pointed out that the Magna Charta Universitatum Europearum stresses the essential role of universities in the promotion of European humanistic traditions and the development of the world civilization. The document reads that the fundamental principles and privileges related to academic freedom and institutional autonomy are of utmost importance to the universities, and that the compliance with these principles serves the good of individual communities and the humankind.
