On 19 May, by secret ballot, the Kaunas University of Technology Council once again gave its vote of confidence to the current Rector of KTU, Professor of the Faculty of Chemical Technology, President of Santaka Valley and the Chairman of the Lithuanian National Broadcaster (LRT) Council, Eugenijus Valatka, who has been the head of the Kaunas University of Technology for the last five years.
Prof Valatka started his career at the University by obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering. He then continued his studies at KTU and the University of Angers in France, where he obtained a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering. His dissertation was prepared at KTU and the 13th University of Paris; Eugenijus Valatka defended his thesis in 2000 and was awarded a PhD in Chemical Engineering.
Since 2000, Prof. Eugenijus Valatka has been working as a senior assistant and lecturer at the Department of Physical Chemistry (now Physical and Inorganic Chemistry) of the KTU Faculty of Chemical Technology; from 2002 to 2012 he was an associate professor of the said Department, and since 2012 Eugenijus Valatka has been a professor. From 2006 to 2011, Valatka was the Vice-Dean of KTU Faculty of Chemical Technology, and since 2011 – the Dean. In 2018, Prof Eugenijus Valatka was elected as a Rector of KTU.
Before his re-election, during his meetings with the KTU community, Valatka stated that he intended to continue the started work that is of utmost importance for the University.
Re-elected as a KTU Rector, Eugenijus Valatka will continue to ensure sustainable funding for the University and contribute to the development and expansion of the ECIU University, the Centre of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence and the Technology Business Development Centre CERN. Among his most urgent projects are enabling the potential of the M-Lab, the Centre of Experimental and Prototyping Laboratories of Physical and Technological Sciences, and ensuring the development of technological-experimental and innovation activities.
Eugenijus Valatka intends to continue to follow the KTU activity plan for 2021–2025, to improve the University infrastructure, to expand non-formal education services, to promote co-curriculum, to collaborate with other universities and alliances, and to improve the University’s competitiveness in the international arena.