{"id":195033,"date":"2026-07-09T13:41:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T10:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/195033\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T13:41:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T10:41:43","slug":"dozens-of-academics-call-for-creation-of-belarusian-research-university","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/195033\/","title":{"rendered":"Dozens of academics call for creation of Belarusian research university"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

July 9, Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Sixty scholars and public figures signed an open letter in support of the establishment of a Belarusian Research University in the European Union, says the document posted on the initiative\u2019s website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appeal contains a call on EU politicians, academic foundations and institutions to closely cooperate with the founding team and provide funding for the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter cited unfavorable conditions for education in Belarus, where Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s regime \u201cpromotes large-scale Russification and colonization of the Belarusian nation, advancing the ideology of the \u2018Russian world.\u2019\u201d Authorities have banned independent educational institutions, rolled back academic freedoms and dismissed academics on political grounds, it argued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of Belarus\u2019 50 institutions of higher education provide instruction in Belarusian language, while only 10 percent of Belarusian children receive primary and secondary education in Belarusian, the initiative said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIdeological control, militarization of education and political censorship dominate the Belarusian educational sphere,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cHundreds and thousands of highly qualified specialists cannot freely engage in research and teaching in the country and are forced to leave Belarus because of persecution and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A free and democratic Belarus would benefit from a strong multidisciplinary research center training professionals in key fields, especially in social sciences and humanities, which are most vulnerable to censorship and repression, the authors stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A national research university and the expansion of knowledge about Belarus would also contribute to the decolonization of perceptions of the post-Soviet space and benefit Western academic and expert communities, the letter says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exiled Belarusian academics registered their initiative to set up a research university last September in Poland. It is named after Astafiej Va\u0142ovi\u010d, a 16th-century statesman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n
\n \"\"