Baltic University Program, BUP: Delegation of the university takes part in the 5th Rectors' Conference in Finland.
Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences has been a member of the world's largest network for higher education, the Baltic University Program (BUP), since 2003. The main topics are sustainable development, environmental protection and democracy in the Baltic Sea region.
The BUP was founded in 1991 at the Swedish University of Uppsala (one of the world's most renowned universities) by Prof. Dr. Lars Rydén. He had the vision that after the end of the "Cold War", young people from the countries in the Baltic Sea catchment area should work together on solutions to regional problems, despite their different cultures, religions and languages. The Baltic Sea is considered to be the most polluted and contaminated sea in the world.
Our university has been a member of the BUP since 2003, which now includes around 80 university institutions and more than 200 partners from the field of higher education. In addition to Sweden and Germany, the partner countries are Finland, Denmark, Poland, the Baltic States, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg. Each member country has a national BUP center. The German center is located at our university and is headed by the center director Prof. Dr. Bernd Delakowitz. The numerous research activities of the BUP are supported by our long-standing partner and honorary professor, Prof. Dr. habil. Walter Leal, from the HAW Hamburg.
The BUP offers students at member institutions a wide range of courses and materials in English ontopics such as "Sustainable Development", "Environmental and Biosphere Protection","Water Protection Management", "Resource and Energy Efficiency", "Sustainable Tourism" and "Urban Development" .Student conferences and summer schools are regularly organized , as well as further training for teachers ("Teacher's Conferences") .
A highlight are the annual sailing trips ("Sails") with larger sailing ships chartered for this purpose, for which around 50-60 students can apply. Credit points (ECTS) can be earned for all courses and offset against the respective degree program. The next sailing trip on board the sailing ship Frederic Chopin will take place from September 4 to 18. Lecturers are still being sought to run a course for this. Interested parties can contact Markus Will .
What is particularly attractive for students is that participation in the events is usually free of charge and accommodation and meals are covered by the BUP or the partner universities.
The presidency of the BUP rotates and in the first half of 2018 will be held by Germany and therefore mainly by the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences.
Meetings of all rectors of the BUP universities and partners take place every three years. The 5th Rectors' Conference took place at the University of Turku in Finland from January 24 to 26, 2018. The Zittau delegation consisted of our Rector Prof. Dr. Friedrich Albrecht as well as Prof. Delakowitz, Dipl.-Ing. Markus Will (who has been very actively involved in the BUP for many years) and the two students from the Ecology and Environmental Protection course, Mirjam Weituschat and Jacob Fen-ner. The two students have already taken part in several BUP events, including the 2017 sailing trip. It is a special honor that the two students were personally invited by the BUP secretariat in Uppsala to join other students at the conference to share their impressions of the BUP with the rectors in attendance. The fact that our rector was appointed to lead a workshop on education in the 21st century can also be seen as recognition of our long-standing commitment. Prof. Delakowitz had the opportunity to present the international student conference planned for the end of May in Zittau on the topic of "Resource and Energy Efficiency in Production and Transport". He also announced this year's summer course in Hamburg on the topic of "Circular Economy".
All participants returned with the impression that the Rectors' Conference was extremely informative, successful and motivating.
