On the first week of December 2024, at the University of Bielsko-Biala there was held a Blended Intensive Programme “Operational Management”. It was organised by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science and the International Relations Office of the UBB.
Besides the UBB students, the participants of the programme were also the students from: Taltech Virumaa College, the University of Maribor, the University of Applied Sciences in Mittweida and the University of Žilina. As such, we were hosting both the people for whom the trip to Bielsko-Biała was a matter of a short trip (even though through a state border) and those for whom it meant a some-teen hours of travel.
The first day of the programme started with an official welcome of the guest by dr inż. Dariusz Więcek, the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science of the UBB. In turn, there was a presentation introducing the arriving students with our university and its direct neighbourhood – the city of Bielsko-Biała. After that, the process of discovering the UBB turned more active, as the participants of the programme were given a campus tour. Then, there were integration workshops and introduction to the Polish language. After the lunch break, dr hab. inż. Dariusz Plinta introduced the participants into the topics concerning the main subject of the even. Then, Bartosz Dębowski from the International Relations Office took the participants to the centre of Bielsko-Biała to guide the tour of the most interesting places there and tell the complex story of the city.
The schedule of the following two days was mostly filled with the lectures and workshops. Besides of aforementioned prof. Plinta, they were given also by: dr hab. inż. Izabela Kutschenreiter-Praszkiewicz and mgr inż. Katarzyna Radwan from the UBB, as well as doc. Ing. Patrik Grznár, PhD, Ing. Beáta Furmanová, PhD, and Ing. Štefan Mozol, PhD from the University of Žilina. During those activities, the students were shown both the theoretical and practical aspects of management and production processes.
On Tuesday, 3rd of December 2024, the events of the programme were interwoven with a Christmas Fair organised at the same time on the University Campus. As a meal, the participant could have a barbecue on that day, including hot, smoked cheese with cranberries. They could also participate in other attractions prepared by the organisers of the Fair on that day.
On Thursday, 5th of December 2024, Mirella Olearczyk and Bartosz Dębowski from the International Relations Office took the participant on a trip to Kraków. There, they visited the Museum of Engineering and Technology in the district of Kazimierz, from where, on foot and passing by the famous Dragon’s Den of beneath the Wawel Castle Hill, they went to the city centre – just in time to hear the sounds of Hejnał Mariacki, a trumpet city signal played each hour from the highest tower of the Saint Mary’s Basilica and being one of the landmarks of Kraków. After some more free time to enjoy the Old City and the Christmas Fair in Kraków by themselves, the group returned to the coach which took them back to Bielsko-Biała.
During the last day of they stay in Bielsko-Biała, the participants, divided in =to several groups, delivered presentations on the topics related with those discussed during the previous lectures and workshops of the programme. Those presentations had been evaluated by prof. Plinta, after what followed a small ending ceremony, during which the participants were given the certificates of attendance.
We hope that our guests returned from Bielsko-Biała not only with new knowledge and skills but also with new acquaintances and nice impressions.
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