November marked the first anniversary of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) announcement of nearly 16 million PLN for Polish universities affiliated with European University Alliances to support cooperation with Ukrainian universities. All within the framework of the 'Solidarity with Ukraine' programme.
This initiative aimed to preserve the intellectual value of the Ukrainian nation to develop long-term cooperation between partner universities and to support the adaptation of Ukrainian universities to EU standards and rules. The idea on which Adam Mickiewicz University's application for funding was based was primarily to organise exchanges of students, doctoral students and staff from our partner universities in Ukraine and their participation in summer and winter schools. The received funding allowed us to plan ten summer schools for representatives of the partner universities. At the same time, a second application was submitted to the National Centre for Research and Development, and thanks to the obtained financing, we planned the organisation of a further 21 schools on a variety of topics. The earned financial resources enabled us to cover the participants' expenses for travel to and from Poland, accommodation, meals and insurance.
The vision of organising a total of 31 summer schools with more than 900 participants required a strategic approach to planning not only the topics of the individual weeks, leaders and dates but above all, to selecting participants.
The help came from the Erasmus+ programme and the organised 1st AMU Staff Week for Ukraine, to which we invited the heads of the foreign cooperation departments of the partner universities in Ukraine. Meeting each other in person made it easier for our partners to get in touch with us and carry out the recruitment for each school.
We created a programme for each school to introduce participants to the university and thematic issues in a pleasant atmosphere. Participants received theoretical and practical knowledge on the topic whilst also having the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the AMU infrastructure, the city, Polish culture and history.
The topics of the schools were varied. In the student schools, most of our faculties prepared thematic lecture series. The most popular was the school on 'Inspiration and manipulation of public opinion as algorithms for gaining and maintaining political power in Europe', prepared by Dr Mariusz Szynkiewicz, Vice-Dean of Students and Organisational Affairs of the Faculty of Philosophy. A summary of the student theme was the student government school, conducted by three AMU student organisations: the Student Council, the Doctoral Student Council and the Erasmus Student Network.
Some schools were organised for university employees, starting with vice-rectors through the more comprehensive administration and ending with deanery and library employees.
At the end of November, NAWA presented data on part of the 'Solidarity with Ukraine' programme. As many as 18 Polish universities arranged 2233 mobilities with 58 Ukrainian universities, resulting in an average of 124 people invited to each Polish university. Adam Mickiewicz University's contribution to these figures includes 32 Ukrainian universities and as many as 300 mobilities. In turn, 607 mobilities were carried out within the framework of the National Centre for Research and Development thus, a total of 907 people participated in 31 summer schools organised at AMU. No other university in Poland has implemented a similar project on such a scale.
It was a very challenging time for those involved in organising the schools. For 31 weeks, we welcomed a group of participants on Sunday, said goodbye to them on Saturday, and welcomed another group the next day. All the preparations and processes were repeated. I do not know what was more demanding: the preparation, the pace and frequency, the excitement or the farewells, but we know, that we did a great job. It is shown, by the countless positive feedback we received after the participants returned to Ukraine.
In an initial summary after conducting this year's schools, Prof. Rafał Witkowski, Vice-Rector for International Cooperation, has already announced his intention to work on the preparation of the next NAWA grant application, in the course of which we would focus on contemporary educational trends for Ukrainian universities in a war-challenged situation and on emphasising the benefits, risks and activities associated with Internationalization at Home and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL).
Source: Życie Uniwersyteckie
More about the Summer Schools project is available here: https://amu.edu.pl/en/solidarity-with-ukraine