From 7th to 11th of April 2025, the University of Bielsko-Biala was hosting a on-site part of the Blended Intensive Programme “Sustainable Development in Contemporary Organisations” within the framework of the Erasmus+ Programme. It was not the first such event at the UBB, but never before the scale of it had been so large.
Four faculties of our University were organising it at once: the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, the Faculty of Management and Transport, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Health Sciences. The foreign universities taking part in our event were: Bulgarian South-West University “Neofit Rilski” of Blagoevgrad, Czech University of Pardubice, Lithuanian Mykolas Romeris University of Vilnius, Romanian Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, Slovak Alexander Dubček University of Trenčin, Slovenian University of Maribor, Spanish University of Valladolid and Turkish: Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University and Sinop University. The nationalities represented by the participants formed even broader array. In particular, the University of Maribor has sent not only the Slovenians, but also at least one person from Bosnia, Montenegro or Serbia. Obviously, there was also a representation of the hosts.
From the beginning of the programme duration, starting in March in an online form, the participants have been divided into four thematic paths, each supervised by a faculty of the UBB:
There was a part of activities shared by all of the participants, however most of the schedule was divided according to the paths mentioned above. The classes were held both by the UBB employees and the guests from the universities cooperating within the framework of the BIP.
The guests were welcomed by dr hab. Katarzyna Ożańska-Ponikwia, the Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Education, who addressed them in an opening speech. Then, the Youth City Council has been presented by its delegates: Jacek Kasprzykowski, the Chairman of the Commission for the International Affairs, and Julia Rączka, the Vice-President of the Youth City Council. Dr Paulina Żmijowska, the Mayor’s Plenipotentiary for Young People, introduced the audience to the topic of brand design, inspiring them to later integration workshops. The next session was led by dr. ing. Marius Telişcă of the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi. Under his supervision and assessment, each of the arriving teams presented the posters prepared by them, proposing initiatives referring to the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations. In the end, prof. dr hab. Ernest Zawada took the stage. He briefly introduced the topic of a sign in culture and the rules of its creation. That was an introduction for the integration workshops, which took their place in the space of the fourth floor corridor of the L building, nearby the Academic Gallery. The participants of all four paths, divided by them, had a task to design a logo poster prototype for their respective path. The results were assessed by prof. Zawada. While acknowledging the general high level of the work produced, he nevertheless decided to praise especially two of them. Then, the participants moved to the centre of Bielsko-Biała, where they were divided in two groups and guided by Bartosz Dębowski and Maciej Walicki who led them through a convoluted history of the city engraved in the streets of its central part.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the participants had their activities in groups according to the schedules of their respective paths. According to each of the paths, they gained knowledge from subjects as: group workflow, artificial intelligence appliances in different branches – from biometrics, through industrial production, to arts, brand management, negotiation techniques, communication strategies, well-being, relaxation techniques or burnout prevention. Significant part of those activities has a practical dimension.
On Thursday, the International Relations Office Staff took the participants to Katowice. There, they learnt about history of Upper Silesia by visiting the Silesian Museum and, in more spontaneous way, the metropolitan city centre of Katowice.
The last day of the programme, the participants, divided into groups, displayed their creativity and ability of employment of freshly gained knowledge by presenting an initiative or business referring to the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations.
From the University of Bielsko-Biała, the organisation of the Blended Intensive Programme was coordinated by: Aleksandra Hasior – the Insitutional Erasmus+ Coordinator of the UBB, and the Faculty Erasmus+ Coordinators: dr hab. inż. Andrzej Urbaś of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, dr Jarosław Jabłonka of the Faculty of Management and Transport, dr Elwira Lewandowska of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and dr Karolina Zimmer of the Faculty of Health Sciences. Involved in organisation of the event were also: dr Agnieszka Zielińska and the staff of the International Relations Office: mgr inż. Bartosz Dębowski, dr Dagmara Mika, mgr Mirella Olearczyk and mgr Adriana Procner. The content of the BIP activities, both online and onsite, was delivered also by the employees of the UBB and the PhD candidates of the UBB Doctoral School. From the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, they were: dr Marcin Bernaś, mgr inż. Mikołaj Grygiel, dr inż. Daniel Jancarczyk, dr Aleksandra Kłos-Witkowska, dr hab. inż. Mirosław Kordos, prof. UBB, prof. dr hab. Vasyl Martsenyuk, dr inż. Ruslan Shevchuk and dr Łukasz Więcław; from the faculty of Management and Transport: dr Piotr Dziwiński, dr inż. Sylwia Gąsiorek-Madzia, dr Honorata Howaniec, mgr Aleksandra Kępka, mgr Michał Koźmiński, and mgr Edyta Zachurzok; from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: dr Anita Jarczok, dr Agnieszka Będkowska-Kopczyk, mgr Paula-Józefczyk d’Amelio, dr Agnieszka Kocel-Duraj, dr Marzena Okoń, mgr Agnieszka Piznal, mgr Małgorzata Raułyk-Dumanow and prof. dr. hab. Ernest Zawada; from the Faculty of Health Sciences: dr Michał Ćwiertnia, dr Małgorzata Fraś, dr hab. Tomasz Ilczak, dr Ewelina Jaksz-Recmanik, mgr Katarzyna Kroczek, dr Anna Michalik, dr hab. Wioletta Pollok-Waksmańska, prof. UBB, dr Beata Babiarczyk and dr Kornelia Skoczylas. Involved in that was also mgr Kamila Wierzbicka, the UBB Adviser for Accessibility.
Delivering the content were also the guests from the co-operating universities: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Artūras Jurgielevičius of the Mykolas Romeris University of Vilnius, Mgr. Iryna Matějková, DiS. and Mgr. Klára Václavíková, Ph.D. of the University of Pardubice, doc. Ing. Katarína Havierniková and Ing. Karol Krajčo of the Alexander Dubček University of Trenčin, Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Tuba Türkel Brogaard of the Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Doç. Dr. Abdullah Işık of the Sinop University and, last but not least, wszystkim ş. l. univ. dr. ing. Marius Telişcă of the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi. In particular, without the commitment of the latter, the whole event would not be the same.
For many of the participants, the programme was their first chance to visit Poland, or even their first travel abroad. We hope that the experiences galore of the past week were good and pleasant, and as such that the memories of them will stay with the participants for good – as well as the acquaintances made during the event. The fact that some of the participants have decided to stay in Bielsko-Biała for a little longer seems giving reasons for such assumptions.
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