Nacionaliniai ir tarptautiniai aukštojo mokslo ir studijų interesai pirmosios Lietuvos Respublikos laikotarpiu

LTNacionalizmo apogėjaus laikotarpiu, t. y. kai po Pirmojo pasaulinio karo buvo kuriama tautinė Lietuvos valstybė, iš pradžių Vilniaus universiteto atkūrimas, vėliau Lietuvos universiteto steigimas tampa viena iš vyriausybių prioritetinių veiklos sričių ir siejamas su tautinės valstybės pagrindų įtvirtinimu. Straipsnyje nagrinėjama, kokie nacionaliniai ir tarptautiniai aukštojo mokslo ir studijų interesai dominavo besikuriančioje tautinėje valstybėje ir kokių sąsajų dėl naujai steigiamo universiteto politikai ieškojo europinėje aukštojo mokslo erdvėje. Pagrindinis to meto Lietuvos politikų tikslas buvo rasti geriausią universiteto modelį Europoje ir juo vadovaujantis kurti universitetą Lietuvoje. Straipsnyje analizuojama keletas klausimų. Pirma, ar politikams pavyko išvengti etnocentrizmo ir likti nešališkiems aukštojo mokslo ir studijų klausimais, ar vis dėlto mokslo ir studijų srityje dominavo valstybiniai ir tautiniai interesai. Antra, kokią reikšmę turėjo aktyvi visuomenės pozicija, siekiant, kad mokslas ir studijos atitiktų to meto europinius standartus. Trečia, kaip profesoriai ir mokslininkai įsiliejo į tarptautinę europinę erdvę. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Universitetas; Mokslas; Studijos; Nacionaliniai ir tarptautiniai mokslo ir studijų interesai; Pirmoji Lietuvos Respublika; University; Sciences; Studies; National and transnational interests of sciences and studies; First Republic of Lithuania.

ENIn the apogee of nationalism, i.e. in the period following World War I marked by the creation of the nation state of Lithuania, at first the establishment of national Vilnius University and later the founding of the University of Lithuania were seen as a government priority goal associated with the consolidation of the underlying elements of the nation state. The aim and originality of the article, which is based on the methods of document and comparative analysis, lie in the attempt to divide the policy of science and higher education in the first Republic of Lithuania into stages and define them through the inquiry into national and transnational scientific and educational interests posed by politicians in creation of the nation state of Lithuania and international correlations in favour of higher education in Lithuania searched out in the European sphere. The article raises several questions. First, did the politicians manage to escape ethnocentrism and remain unbiased in science and education-related issues or were state and national interests predominant in the sphere of science and education? Second, what was the role played by the active position of the society which pursued conformity of science and education with contemporary European standards? Third, to what extent professors and scholars were able to participate in the European academic life? The author of the article divides science and higher education policy in the first Republic of Lithuania into fourth main stages. The first stage is related to the establishment of the Lithuanian Vilnius University and covers the period of the German occupation starting from autumn of 1915 and ending in the beginning of 1919.[...] Proponents of the second strategy requested immediate opening of the Lithuanian Vilnius University as the country was lacking of well-qualified specialists and foreign universities were unable to educate sufficient numbers of civil servants and economy specialists of various levels; the second stage covers the period from 1919 marked by the loss of Vilnius and its region and the possibility to re-establish Vilnius University by the opening of the University of Lithuania on 16 February 1922. [...] the third stage is related to the founding of the University of Lithuania and covers the period from the opening of the University of Lithuania on 16 February 1922 to the establishment of new universities in the early 1930s. [...] the fourth stage started with the early 1930s and lasted until the occupation of the first Republic of Lithuania by the Soviets in 1940. [...]The author of the article arrives at the conclusion that politicians of the first Republic of Lithuania failed to fully escape ethnocentrism, however, active position of the academic society helped navigate among national and transnational interests by creating the system of science and higher education that enabled scholars to enter the common scholarly European networks. They became fully integrated into the international community of scholars. That is why in the interwar period the University of Lithuania was rather international in its nature, a place where professors from both Eastern and Western Europe worked and shared their knowledge. [From the publication]