Lithuania and Russia will launch a joint project

The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) and the Projects for the Future Foundation (PFF), Russia, will launch a joint project “Building a Sound Voucher System in Higher Education. Cross-border co-operation between Lithuania and Russia.” The goal of this project is to advance a voucher funding reform in higher education by providing independent expert input to the policy making process and increasing public awareness of the need and essence of the reform. The overall objective is to advance a conceptual and legal basis for an economically sound voucher-funding scheme that would inject market principles and competitive forces in the system of higher education.

LFMI and PFF will undertake joint efforts to achieve the said objective. As the first step, the Lithuanian and Russian project teams will make overviews of the existing situations of higher education in their respective countries, a comprehensive analysis of the developments and policy changes that have taken place during the years of transition to the present day as well as an evaluation of the current reform proposals and ongoing policy debates. The research and evaluation will provide a basis for developing a model and conceptual framework of a market-oriented voucher-funding system in higher education. Specific policy measures and recommendations, including necessary changes in the legal basis, will be formulated in order to prepare a comprehensive reform proposal for installing a sound voucher system in higher education. A policy advocacy and dissemination campaign will be organized to widely present the results of the project, to stimulate policy debates and to gain support and passage for the proposed reform. The recommendations will be submitted to the policy community, decision-making bodies and executive branches of the government, higher educational establishments, interested NGOs, and mass media.

The joint project is supported by Freedom House. The life of the project will be eight months; it will be launched in May, 2002.

LFMI continues a course on freedom

In February 2002, LFMI started delivering a semester-long university course "Capitalism and Freedom" for a second year, which is aimed to instil in students self-conscious liberal thinking through the study and internalization of sound social and economic ideas. By giving this course, LFMI seeks to develop a tradition of teaching freedom as a subject that requires profound public understanding. It is tailored for second-year students of law, economics, political science, sociology, philosophy, journalism, and others.

This year the course is delivered for students of law, economics, philosophy, political science, and communication at Vilnius University. This course will give students two credits, while those who will complete it successfully will receive a course certificate issued by LFMI.

LFMI’s course on freedom was launched in 2001, when LFMI became a winner of the Sir John Templeton Foundation's International Freedom Project, directed by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. This project aimed to encourage and support studies on freedom in many universities of the world. An international jury selected fourteen applications, among which was LFMI’s application for a course “Individual, Society, Freedom and the Market” (its original title). Other winners were universities from Italy, Spain, Australia, Philippines, Montenegro, Serbia, Russia, Turkey, France, Nigeria, and Guatemala.

For a detailed description of the course, please visit our home page at http://www.freema.org/Projects/Course.phtml.

LFMI discusses news on a popular radio station

Currently, LFMI and one of the most popular radio stations in Lithuania, M1 Plius, are carrying out a joint-project “Laisvoji rinka“ (“The Free Market”), aimed at enlightening the public about the ideas of the free market and limited government. Every working day LFMI policy analysts comment on the hottest news from the market and government, alert the public about planned policy actions, evaluate their implications for people’s lives and warn of likely setbacks that may be caused by inadequate policy decisions. These comments are broadcast two times a day every working day. They are also posted on a popular Lithuanian internet portal “Sala” (www.sala.lt). This project was launched in September 2002 and will over in early summer.

A series of educational seminars

In 2002, LFMI started a series of educational seminars-discussions, which aims at bringing together experts of economy and finances, politicians, journalists, lecturers and students to discuss the most pressing economic events and latest tendencies in the world and Lithuania, to analyse their causes and consequences, and to exchange views on them.

On February 15, LFMI held the first seminar “Why the Argentine Government Went into Bankruptcy?" The event was designed to discuss the issues related to the crisis in Argentina - what caused the financial problems there and what the Lithuanian administration should learn from Argentina's policies. The second seminar “Can Agriculture be a Competitive Business in Lithuania?” took place on April 19. Participants analysed such issues as the specifics of agriculture, the effects of the milk sector liberalisation, current agricultural policies performed in Lithuania, and the perspectives of Lithuania’s farmers in the EU.