The educational, training, and business potential of the University of Gdańsk aimed at cooperation with entrepreneurs in the maritime sector was presented by representatives of the UG at BALTEXPO 2023. Prospective students and business partners could get acquainted with the UG's current offer at our stand in the Offshore hall and during a speech by the Director of the Centre for the Research on Maritime Economy UG, dr hab. Dorota Pyć, prof. UG, on the main stage at the BALTEXPO Career Day and during a tour of the University of Gdańsk's Research Vessel Oceanograf.

‘It is worth gaining knowledge, spending a lot of time to consolidate it and then using it skilfully in practice, at work. It is also extremely important to constantly build up knowledge to have a stable position in the competitive labour market,’ said prof. Dorota Pyć to students of maritime secondary schools during her speech on the BALTEXPO main stage. ‘Knowledge also allows us to have something unquantifiable in financial terms - satisfaction from the work we do.’

Director of the Centre for the Research on Maritime Economy UG presented the University of Gdańsk's maritime-related education offer. She talked about interesting courses conducted by the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, International Economic Relations and the Maritime Offshore Sectors held by the Faculty of Economics, and the postgraduate course Education for Sustainable Development: Offshore Wind Energy, of which she is the head.

Fair participants could find out more about the full range of UG's offerings at our university's stand, which was run by the Centre for the Research on Maritime Economy UG in cooperation with the Centre for Sustainable Development UG and students of the Faculty of Economics, with the support of the Office for Cooperation and Development.

'I was interested in the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics. We had previously been to the open days in April. It was interesting, and I liked the faculty itself,' said Tomasz Ciurkowski, a student from the Communications Technical School (a class with the profile of Technician-Informatics). 'At the stand, I learned more about the recruitment process, especially the supplementary recruitment.'

'From the morning hours, the UG stand was visited by schools. These included both technical and general secondary schools from all over Pomerania. The students were curious and asked us questions about what matriculation exams they needed to pass to get into our university. Mostly science minds came to us,' says third-year International Economic Relations student Kacper Gierejczyk.

A unique attraction was the opportunity to see UG's maritime potential live. Tours of the University of Gdańsk's Research Vessel Oceanograf took place every day of the fair and were very popular. Visitors were shown around the ship by its crew and students from the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography.

Conferences were also held during BALTEXPO 2023. One of them, held on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the International Arbitration Court at the National Chamber of Maritime Economy in Gdynia, was attended by prof. Dorota Pyć, who presented the topic 'Application of artificial intelligence systems in arbitration'.

Also successful at the fair was a start-up cooperating with the University of Gdańsk, Quantum Cybersecurity Group (QCG) - co-founded by dr hab. Marcin Pawłowski, prof. UG - which received an award in the 'Golden Anchor' competition. The award was handed to the other co-founders: Sebastian Zimnol, Olivier Weimann, and Maciej Wierzbowski. QCG is dedicated to developing an innovative, user-friendly and cost-effective solution in the field of quantum cybersecurity.

The University of Gdańsk was represented at BALTEXPO 2023 by the Centre for the Research on Maritime Economy UG, the Centre for Sustainable Development UG, the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Management, the Faculty of Law and Administration, the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, the Office of Cooperation and Development UG and the Operator's Office of the RV Oceanograf.