On October 17, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Advisor on Education and Science, Tatiana Shchyttsova, took part in a meeting of the Joint Steering Committee of SALT (Support to Advanced Learning and Training — EU4Belarus). The program, launched and funded by the European Commission, is administered by the Central Project Management Agency (CPVA) (Lithuania), with a consortium of Belarusian organizations involved in its implementation. The DG NEAR Team Leader for Operations in Belarus and Russia, Virginija Dambrauskaitė, chaired the meeting.
The program has been operating since 2021 in two stages, SALT 1 (2021-2025) and SALT 2 (2023-2025). This year marks the beginning of a new stage, SALT 3, which will run until 2026.
SALT provides support to Belarusian students and scholars who have been repressed or are at risk of persecution due to their political stance or professional activities. Support is also available for former political prisoners.
The meeting addressed the challenges in implementing the program and ways to resolve them, including ensuring timely scholarship payments. CPVA representatives confirmed that there will be no further delays as all bureaucratic hurdles have been addressed.
As a result of the meeting, a new scholarship competition will be announced in the spring of 2025 for undergraduate and master’s programs at the universities of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The SALT Assistance Center is available to answer any questions related to the program and provide consultation on university admissions and internship opportunities.
