Developing cooperation and strengthening university alliances through new projects were the leading themes of a visit by the rectoral authorities of the Spanish University of Oviedo, leader of the Igenium consortium of European universities, which has been collaborating with UG since 2018. The proposal to intensify joint projects is also the result of UG's activity in the SEA EU alliance.

The University of Gdańsk was visited by the Vice-Rector for Internationalisation of the UO, prof. Jesús Daniel Santos Rodríguez, who met with the UG Vice-Rector for International Cooperation, dr hab. Anna Jurkowska-Zeidler, prof. UG. During the visit, the participants discussed, among other things, the European Universities Initiative.

- 'This is the most important dimension and effect of the European Universities Initiative - cooperation and exchange of good experiences. We are delighted to be able to share with the new European alliance our experience gained during the SEA-EU cooperation to date, in terms of creating an international campus, interdisciplinary education and knowledge transfer,' - emphasises Vice-Rector prof. UG Anna Jurkowska-Zeidler.

The University of Oviedo is a leader in the Ingenium consortium (https://ingenium-university.eu), established in 2020 as part of the European University Initiative 2020 and bringing together universities from 10 countries: Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Medical University of Sofia (Bulgaria), University of Oviedo (Spain), South-East Finland University of Applied Sciences (Finland), University of Rouen-Normandie (France), University of Crete (Greece), Munster University of Technology (Ireland), Gabriele d'Annunzio' University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy), Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi (Romania), University of Skövde (Sweden).

Thanks to the European universities' initiative, UG will have the opportunity to extend its existing cooperation with the Spanish university with further projects. Indeed, the University of Cadiz, as leader of the SEA-EU consortium, recommended our university to the Ingenium leader. The Spanish delegation was also met by Natalia Lubińska, Head of the SEA-EU Office, who emphasised that in three years, thanks to the cooperation between the universities of Cadiz, Brest, Kiel, University of Gdańsk, Split and Malta, SEA-EU has become an international, multiethnic, multilingual and interdisciplinary European University. It is now an alliance of 9 European coastal universities - with 3 new partners from Italy, Portugal and Norway. European Universities create a unique space for internationalising research, education and academic life.

The University of Oviedo cooperates with the Faculty of Social Sciences and Economics. The Faculty of Pedagogy itself has hosted a total of 31 students from the UO for five years. The Spanish guests also teach other courses at the Faculty, such as psychology, sociology and philosophy.

- 'Cooperation with the University of Oviedo has always gone very well. We are in regular contact with the coordinator there, Susana Agudo Prado. With such successful relations, it is worth considering joint implementation of the Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme or receiving or sending students for placements,' - says Magdalena Sawicz, Head of the International Cooperation Office of the UG, who coordinated cooperation with the UO at the Faculty of Social Sciences.