A year ago, the European Commission announced the results of the 2nd European Universities call for proposals. Transform4Europe alliance, of which our University is a member, joined the group of consortiums with the status of the European University. Together with six other higher education institutions we are designing a joint campus located in seven countries: Germany, Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, Lithuania, Poland, and Italy. Our aim is to educate a new generation of highly qualified European knowledge entrepreneurs, who will influence the development of not only the region, but also the country and Europe as a whole.
Last year was a time of online meetings, welcoming guests from partner universities, discussions, interviews, but also numerous activities and initiatives to help us create the joint European university of the future.
Our actions and plans
In cooperation with the universities of the Transform4Europe alliance, we are preparing solutions to increase the mobility of employees, students, and doctoral students, e.g. by facilitating trips to partner research and artistic centres. We have signed agreements under which we are implementing teaching and research projects, such as Active Class or T4ERI. We are currently developing joint courses and a language strategy.
Students and doctoral students have a particularly important role to play in shaping the European university of the future. To ensure that they have a real say in the decisions made by the alliance, a Student Council has been set up to support the work of the board of the international project. Our representative, Emilie Szwajnoch, is the Vice-Chair of the Council.
We want to get to know each other better. We will organise European Culture Festivals or Transform4Europe Week – an event that will take place for the first time in 2022 in Katowice. Already in August 2021, students and doctoral students of partner universities will be able to participate in a summer animation course organised by the Estonian Academy of Arts.
Through its activities, Transform4Europe aims to contribute to increasing the attractiveness and competitiveness of European research centres in the international arena. At the same time, it will strive to build a mature civil society, responsible for the development of individual regions and Europe as a whole.
Transform4Europe consists of: Saarland University (Germany, consortium leader), University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland), University of Alicante (Spain), Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonia), Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski (Bulgaria), University of Trieste (Italy), and Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania).
The head of the project on the part of the University of Silesia in Katowice is Małgorzata Myśliwiec, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor. Detailed information on the activities of our University within the consortium is published at: www.us.edu.pl/t4e.