More than PLN 850 000 has been donated to the University of Gdańsk by the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) for cooperation activities with Odessa's Ilya Mynichkov National University (ONU). Student and staff mobility projects will be implemented throughout 2023 with the SEA-EU alliance.
- 'I believe that for the universities of our eastern neighbours, there is no better place today to implement modern forms of education and to realise successful scientific cooperation than to participate in European partnerships,' - the Rector of the UG, prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski, said for the portal perspektywy.pl.
The funds, amounting to PLN 878 000, will be used to involve Ukrainian scientists in joint projects and to invite them to SEA-EU events, such as conferences or training courses. The use of these funds within the framework of the European alliance means that academic mobility will not be limited to Eastern Europe. The initiatives described in the project assume cooperation across Poland, Norway, Germany, Portugal, Malta, Spain, Croatia and Italy.
Each of the nine SEA-EU members will prepare at least one intensive course to take place in a given location. The universities involved also plan to create a network of sustainability teams, through which the universities will support each other in achieving the long-term goals set by Agenda 2030. In addition, the Odessa National University community will be involved in ongoing alliance events such as the 'Being SEAEU' conference as well as summer and winter schools.
The signing of the cooperation agreement took place remotely on April 28, 2022.
- 'In the first months of the war, we set ourselves the goal of including Ukrainian universities in cooperation with European universities, but the European Commission, despite its very favourable attitude towards various forms of support, did not decide to allow non-EU countries to function inside these alliances,' - says Vice-Rector for Students and Quality of Education dr hab. Arnold Kłonczyński, prof. UG. - 'In April this year. University of Gdańsk initiated the signing of a cooperation agreement between SEA-EU universities and Odessa's Ilya Mynichkov National University. The NAWA programme was an ideal follow-up to this declaration, as it allows us to invite Odessa University to cooperate within SEA-EU in the next calendar year.'
Cooperation between the University of Gdańsk and I. Mechnikov University began in the 1990s, when Slavists from both universities worked on the next volume of the scientific yearbook Слов'янський збірни. During the 2021/2022 academic year, authorities from both universities took part in five workshop meetings organised thanks to the Leadership and Organisation for Teaching at European Universities programme.
ONU PhD student Ksenia Andreieva on board the UG RV Oceanograf vessel
A number of joint activities also followed the signing of the cooperation agreement in April 2022, among them: the participation of a PhD student from ONU in a SEA-EU research cruise on the Kiel-Brest route, or the invitation of five Odessa scholars to the conference 'Great World Religions in Language and Culture. Christianity. Judaism: a common heritage'.
- 'We are keen to raise further funds for this cooperation. One potential source is the Erasmus+ programme, which has dedicated its resources for cooperation with Ukrainian universities. We will be reaching out for these funds to strengthen our relationship with the University of Odessa and other Ukrainian universities,' - announces profd. Arnold Kłonczyński.
The cooperation agreement between the University of Gdańsk and the National Agency for Academic Exchange is the result of wider activities. As many as 18 Polish universities took part in the NAWA initiative; almost PLN 16 million has been set aside for cooperation between these universities and Ukrainian universities within the framework of European alliances.