In the elections held in March, four members of the KU academic community were elected to the KU Council for a five-year term of office, representing different departments: prof. dr. Vytautas Juščius, Head of the Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities; prof. dr. Loreta Kelpšaitė-Rimkienė, Senior Researcher of the Marine Research Institute; prof. Arvydas
Martinkėnas, Department of Medical Technologies, Faculty of Health Sciences; and assoc. prof. dr. Silva Pocytė, Senior Researcher, Institute of Baltic Region History and Archaeology.
Vytautas Lygnugaris, CEO of Limarko Group, Chairman of the Board of the Lithuanian Shipowners' Association, was elected to represent the associated business structures; Eglė Stonkė, Executive Director of the Klaipėdos Regionas Klaipėda Region Municipalities Association, will represent the region's institutions; and Arnoldas Šileika, Director General ofWestern Shipyard Group, will represent social partners.
The KU Students' Union delegated Aidas Čurovas, President of the organisation, to the Council, while Andrius Sutnikas, Coordinator of the Lithuanian Maritime Cluster and Development Manager of the Klaipėda Science and Technology Park, became the alumni representative.
The Council, a collegial governing body of KU consisting of 9 persons, approves the vision and mission of the University as well as the strategic plan of activities submitted by the Rector, considers and approves the plans for the transformation of the University's structure submitted by the Rector, establishes the procedure for organising the election of the Rector by public competition, elects, appoints, and dismisses the Rector, establishes the procedure for the management, use, and disposal of the University's funds and property, considers and approves the most important decisions in that regard, takes care of the support for the University, and carries out other functions.
