Conference Faces of Diversity,  Academic Day of Diversity - UŁ, Łódź

On December 5th, president of ESN Poland, Agata Lech, participated in celebrations of 30 years of Erasmus Program at the University of Lodz during the Academic Day of Diversity, which is a part of the University Diversity project. The project is aimed to promote cultural diversity at University of Lodz. Since two years, the International Relations Office of UŁ presents profiles of foreigners studying at UŁ in social campaigns and exhibitions, organizes workshops about diversity management for employees and students as well as Weeks of Diversity.

The Academic Day of Diversity consisted of conferences, intercultural workshops, an exhibition of photographs of international students, a presentation of multimedia projects prepared by students of Linguistics for Business and international students and the International Food Festival organized by ESN UŁ.

During the conference the history of Erasmus+ in Poland and at UŁ was presented and two discussion panels were held: “How did the Erasmus program change Polish universities?” and “Diversity management in a company” with representatives of Lodz companies. Agata Lech was invited by the president of IROs Forum and Head of IRO UŁ, Liliana Lato, to take part in the first discussion together with:

  • Maria Bołtruszko, Department for Innovation and Development, Ministry of Science and Higher Education
  • Representative of FRSE (Foundation for the Development of the Education System)
  • Dr. engineer Dorota Piotrowska, Head of International Cooperation Centre of Lodz University of Technology
  • University Professor with Postdoctoral Degree Jacek Różniecki, Academic Coordinator of the Erasmus+ Program at Medical University of Lodz
  • Professor Artur Gałkowski, ECTS Coordinator at UŁ

Each of the panelists presented the influence of Erasmus on Polish universities from perspective of their institutions - the president of ESN talked from students’ perspective and also discussed the challenges ahead of them connected with the development of the program. Employees of the university, representatives of companies and students were found among participants of this conference.

As ESN we appreciate the opportunity of participating in this discussion even for the stature of the co-panelists. We are happy that from the perspective of the university our organisation is an important partner for the celebrations of 30 years of Erasmus program and that the students’ perspective is significant and taken into consideration during such conferences.

Photos courtesy of University of Lodz.

Text: Agata Lech

Translation: Sonia Łomnicka