We are after the first meetings of Governing Week, an event organised every six months by a different partner of ‘The European University of the Seas’ alliance. Before noon, a meeting of the Quality and Ethics Committee and an Ukrainian Day panel took place in the Library of the University of Gdańsk.
The meeting of the Quality and Ethics Committee started at 9:00 a.m. with approving the minutes from the last sitting by SEA-EU partners’ representatives. The next parts of the meeting were dedicated to the quality textbook, the ethics textbook, and the project textbook updates.
- The idea of this committee is to harmonise all of the actions within the project and the alliance to ensure their highest possible quality. We focus on two aspects: quality and ethics’- says Professor Mile Dželalija of the University of Split, the chairman of the meeting. - What is important is that the aforementioned quality regards also to our common actions that we take within the alliance, such as joined study programs, joined teaching programs, or common databases used for research activities. During today’s meeting, we discussed – among others – two textbooks: of quality and of ethical part. We also talked about the support for the three working groups that we create, including the data protection working group, the ethics working group, and the quality working group.
Next on the agenda was the Ukrainian Day in the Library of the Univerity of Gdańsk’s Welcome Centre. It was attended by the representatives of the Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University, who presented the potential of their institutions to the members of the SEA-EU alliance. The guests were welcomed by dr hab. Arnold Kłonczyński, a professor of the University of Gdańsk and the Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Education Quality, the chairman of the meeting: - We want to welcome in Gdańsk both those who are with us in the Library of the University of Gdańsk building and those joining us online. I am convinced it will be great time, facilitating debates and conversations about future plans.
Next speaker was Rector of the University of Gdańsk prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski: - We are happy to host all of you in the University of Gdańsk and to present a new perspective for our alliance. It is a great opportunity to talk about our perspectives, our future, but also to reflect upon what we already achieved. The history of our cooperation may not be very long, however, it is very, very intense.’
Rector highlighted his hope that previous actions will contribute to the positive decision of the European Committee regarding possible joining of the Ukrainian academies to the project of the European University: - I hope we will be able to convince The European Committee to not only allow Ukrainian universities to join us as associated partners of the alliances, but also to become full members and partners in the nearest future.
In the next part of the meeting, each partner university presented their institution together with its actions and initiatives taken towards supporting Ukraine. First to present was Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University, represented by eight scientists led by professor Andriy Smityukh, Vice-Rector for Scientific and Pedagogical Work and International Cooperation. University of Cádiz, Spain, was introduced by Javier Izquierdo, University of Western Brittany, France, by Delphine Muths, Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, Germany, by Martina Schmode, The University of Gdańsk by Arnold Kłonczyński, University of Malta by Stefania Agius Fabri, University of Algarve, Portugal, by Patricia Pinto, and Nord University, Norway, by Elena Emilova Popova.
During the last part of the meeting Sabine Menu and Svitlana Shytikova discussed the possibility of cooperation with Ukraine within various European programs. The first of them spoke of founding and support of cooperation between European and Ukrainian universities while the second gave a presentation regarding the ideas for the internationalization of Ukrainian education, youth, and sport (Status of Ukraine in the 2023/2024 EU Erasmus+ program).
That was the end of the first meetings during SEA-EU Governing Week. Information about further activities will be published soon on the University of Gdańsk News website.
