The Center was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between Vilnius University (the oldest in Eastern Europe) and the Open Society Foundation of Lithuania. Its survival will depend in large measure on seeking out new sources of support.
The Center is dedicated to establishing serious programs of academic study, research and training. Thanks to the flexible credit system, students specializing in virtually any subject can benefit from even a few credits in Stateless Culture studies, and become richer, more culturally literate people who will go on to foster tolerance and respect toward the stateless peoples of Europe and to reject and repel prejudice and stereotyping.
And that takes us to the Center's interlinked goals: academic progress for its own sake, and the beneficial result for society when students become acquainted with the magnificent cultural intricacies of peoples living in our midst whose history and civilization has so often been misunderstood, and whose people have so often been oppressed.