"The border is not the edge, but the center of Europe" - TU Liberec and HSZG cooperate in the implementation of Europe's first cross-border Erasmus+ Staff Week
After more than a year of joint preparation, the International Offices of the Technical University of Liberec (TUL) and the HSZG welcomed their guests to Europe's first cross-border Erasmus+ Staff Week last week. From 13 to 17 May 2019, the representatives of partner universities from ten different countries exchanged ideas on how to organize stays abroad in workshops, informal meetings and as part of laboratory and campus tours. Colleagues came from countries including Spain, Poland, Turkey, Italy, Russia and even Japan.
In bright sunshine, the two Vice-Rectors Prof. Mokry and Prof. Heidger welcomed the guests to TUL on Monday. The workshops held over the following days focused in particular on various forms of mobility management, dealing with risk scenarios and ways of increasing Erasmus mobility figures.
"It's great to get to know our partner university for the first time and the people with whom we have often been in contact by email or telephone. Erasmus+ Staff Weeks are also an excellent opportunity to make contact with international colleagues from different cultural backgrounds but with similar work content,"
emphasizes Olga Gaidova, Head of the International Office at UNECON St. Petersburg, one of the HSZG's partner universities in the field of economics.
The representatives of the partner universities were able to see the high quality of teaching and studies for themselves thanks to the commitment of the Liberec, Zittau and Görlitz teaching staff: the laboratories for production metrology, production technology and electrical engineering and computer science opened their doors to the group for this purpose, as did the Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technology and Innovation at TUL and, last but not least, the language laboratory in Görlitz. During the Erasmus+ Student Mini Fair in the Blue Box in Görlitz, the university representatives then answered questions from interested students.
Together with students from the Bachelor's degree course in Tourism Management and their lecturer Prof. Falk Maiwald, the "Marketing Strategies" workshop then discussed ideas for the further dissemination of the Erasmus idea as well as the opportunities and obstacles of stays abroad. After a brief introduction by Prof. Maiwald, the students then presented their results, which they had compiled together with the international university representatives, in an impressive manner and in fluent English.
The program was rounded off - after two entertaining crash courses in Czech and German - by an evening visit to a restaurant at an altitude of over 1000 meters on Mount Jeschken as well as campus and city tours in Liberec, Zittau and Görlitz.
After a walk across the Görlitz Old Town Bridge, the evening ended on Thursday on the Polish side of the Neisse, where the participants received their certificates during a dinner ceremony and were able to review the week's work in an informal campfire session.
This collaboration with the TUL will certainly be continued, whether as a staff week and/or as part of other, equally partnership-based formats. In any case, the positive feedback from the participants speaks for itself:
"We have just returned from Erasmus+ staff training week full of great experience and in good feeling. The program was fascinating, I would like to thank all your cross-border team members for the great effort that you made in organization of this event. You did a great job! We will be happy to continue and expand our cooperation in any field of common interest."
The Erasmus+ Staff Week was only possible thanks to the cooperation of many unnamed people: The members of the organizing team of the International Offices of the TUL and the HSZG would like to take this opportunity to thank all participants once again for the great support they received at both universities before, during and after the event!
An addendum due to current events: At the beginning of last week, two studies were published by the EU which show that participation in the Erasmus+ program gives graduates advantages when entering professional life and helps them to quickly find their way in intercultural contexts.
