As a scientist, he was a corresponding member of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences, Doctor in Physics and Mathematics, recipient of various state awards, professor and the author and originator of textbooks and over 150 articles and 50 inventions.

His father, poet Stanislau Petrovich Shushkevich (born 19 February 1908 in Minsk) was arrested in the 1930s and was released from prison in 1956 (but completely exonerated only in 1975).

He subsequently studied at the graduate school of the Institute of Physics of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences, conducting research in the field of radio electronics.

[citation needed] At the 1994 Belarusian presidential election (the first one after the secession from the Soviet Union), six candidates stood, including Lukashenko, Shushkevich and Kebich, with the latter regarded as the clear favorite.

In 2002 Shushkevich sued the Belarusian Ministry of Labor and Social Security: due to inflation, his retirement pension as a former head of state was the equivalent of US$1.80 monthly.

[13][14] To earn income, Shushkevich lectured extensively in foreign universities including in Poland, the United States and Asian countries.