Vilnius, 01 October 2026 — On the first week of October, OIDEL took part in an international education policy forum held in Vilnius, Lithuania, jointly organised by the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies (WMC) and the Think Tank Institute for European Right. The event brought together policymakers, former members of Lithuania’s Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, national experts and international guests to address the main challenges facing education in Lithuania and Europe and to discuss possible responses from a public policy perspective.
The format of the event provided an opportunity for dialogue between Lithuania’s political and administrative experience and international perspectives on education policy, with particular attention to issues such as educational freedom and pluralism.
The dialogue brought together former Minister of Education Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė and former Deputy Minister of Education Ignas Gaižiūnas, as well as Dr David Steiner, Executive Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, and Ignasi Grau, Director General of OIDEL.
Two panels addressing the challenges of education policy
The programme was structured around two panels, which provided an opportunity to examine the current challenges facing education systems and to discuss possible directions for education policy in Lithuania and Europe.
The first panel brought together representatives of Lithuania’s education policy community and international experts, providing an opportunity to share different perspectives on the challenges currently facing the education sector.
The second roundtable, moderated by Peter Hefele, Policy Director at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, featured David Steiner and Ignasi Grau and focused particularly on educational pluralism.
During this second panel, the work jointly developed by OIDEL and the Wilfried Martens Centre was presented and discussed, including the working paper prepared by the two organisations and other joint initiatives related to education policy.
The discussion also provided OIDEL with an opportunity to present its experience and work, particularly regarding the right to education and educational freedom, and to contribute to the exchange of perspectives on how pluralism can be incorporated into European education policies.
A forum aimed at developing policy proposals
One of the central features of the event was its focus on political dialogue and policy development. The discussions held during the forum will serve as a basis for an education policy recommendations document, which the organisers are expected to publish shortly.
The aim of this work will be to translate the issues addressed during the forum into a set of education policy recommendations, thereby contributing to the debate on the future of education in Lithuania and Europe.
For OIDEL, participation in these kinds of forums provides an opportunity to bring the debate on the right to education, educational freedom and pluralism into the public policy sphere, fostering direct dialogue with policymakers, experts and European organisations.
Participation in a podcast
During his stay in Lithuania, Ignasi Grau also took part in a podcast, where he continued the discussion on the main challenges facing education and had the opportunity to present OIDEL’s work and its perspective on educational freedom and pluralism.
