Maksimas Milta

Maksimas Milta is a master’s student in the European and Russian Studies program. Originally from Lithuania, he joined Yale with a professional career tracking at the intersection of higher education management, policy analysis, and media.

For eight years, Maksimas worked at the European Humanities University, Vilnius-based Belarusian University-in-Exile, leading communications and development. By ensuring $18M of international donors’ support, 1400 young Belarusians have received indoctrination-free rigorous higher education during his tenure. In a part-time capacity, Maksimas lectured early 20th-century Western European literature and the intellectual history of Vilnius to freshmen students.

Since the beginning of the protests in August 2020, he commented on developments in Belarus for leading Baltic, Nordic, Polish, German, Swiss, Dutch media, Le Figaro, Times Higher Education, BBC World News, the New York Times, and others. Later, in 10 episodes of ‘Talaka’, his first documentary show on the Lithuanian National TV, Maksimas explored the role of women in mobilizing the Belarusian society. Recognizing his on-the-ground reporting from Belarus, Maksimas received the annual Titan award by Delfi, Lithuania’s largest media portal.

At Eastern Europe Studies Center’s Belarus Research Program, Maksimas has analyzed Belarus’ societal, economic, and security policy and co-hosted Minsk Express, a bilingual monthly podcast. In 2021, Maksimas received ReThink.CEE Fellowship at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, analyzing Higher Education as a Source of the soft power of the European Union in Eastern Partnership Countries.

At Yale, Maksimas continues to study the role of higher and civic education in countering the despotic regimes and developing practical tools and policy frameworks to offset the democratic backlash.

Maksimas holds a bachelor’s degree in Cultural Heritage (cum laude) from the European Humanities University and a master’s degree in Political Sciences from Vilnius University. During that time, he served as Vice President at the Lithuanian National Union of Students and as an elected representative at the European Students’ Union.