Vilnius Pedagogical University
Encyclopedia
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, which specializes in preparing school teachers and other educators. As of 2007 it had approximately 12,500 students.
History
A pedagogicalPedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
university was established in Klaipėda
Klaipeda
Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....
in 1935 by the Lithuanian government and was called the National Pedagogical Institute. After the Nazi Germany ultimatum to Lithuania
1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania
1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania was an oral ultimatum presented to Juozas Urbšys, Foreign Minister of Lithuania, by Joachim von Ribbentrop, Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany, on March 20, 1939...
in March 1939, the Nazis took control of the Klaipėda Region
Klaipėda Region
The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors...
. The institute was moved to Panevėžys
Panevežys
Panevėžys see also other names, is the fifth largest city in Lithuania. As of 2008, it occupied 50 square kilometers with 113,653 inhabitants. The largest multifunctional arena in Panevėžys is the Cido Arena...
. After Lithuania regained portions of the Vilnius Region
Vilnius region
Vilnius Region , refers to the territory in the present day Lithuania, that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time,...
, the institution was moved to Vilnius in autumn of 1939. It was renamed to Vilnius Pedagogical Institute (Vilniaus pedagoginis institutas).
In 1940, due to the Soviet invasion and occupation, teacher training was reformed according to Soviet standards which affected VPU as the number of students increased due to the changes. As Lithuania regained independence, the Institute was reformed once more and on May 20, 1992 the name was changed to its current form – Vilnius Pedagogical University.