Education:
- Bachelor of Social Policy (University of York, United Kingdom)
Motivation
I’m Ruta. My life and my choice of studies have been strongly influenced by my social activities from my school days. I spent four years in the Kingdom – that’s what I call the United Kingdom. I graduated in Social Policy Studies and put the theoretical knowledge I gained during my studies into practice by working with the local Lithuanian community. In York, I worked with a team of like–minded people to set up Lithuanian communities in the city and at the university, and later on, I set up the York Lithuanian School, a children’s and parents’ club. During my last years in the Kingdom, I have been thinking more and more about how the UK’s best practices could be applied in Lithuania, what welfare state model, as applied by EU countries, would be the most suitable for Lithuania, and what Lithuania should do in order to really achieve the goals set out in the State Progress Strategy “Lithuania 2030”.
In the last days of my studies, I got an offer to work for a UK social research centre that advises the British Government. Although the offer sounded tempting, I realised that it would be much more meaningful to contribute to the future of my country. “Create Lithuania” became my ticket home. And so, driven by curiosity, I embarked on what seemed at the time to be a year–long journey of challenge. Today, I consider the opportunity to participate in “Create Lithuania” one of the best experiences of my life, which not only opened the door to Lithuania, but also created the conditions and helped me to put my ideas into practice, expanded my network of contacts, allowed me to grow, develop and invited me to continue creating in Lithuania. I am glad to have had this opportunity.
