Collaboration of UG and NICE Network
Collaboration UG with NICE Network
Summary of 20 years of inter-university cooperation at WE UG within the international New Initiatives and Challenges in Europe Network
NICE Network (New Initiatives and Challenges in Europe) is an international, inter-university network formed by nearly 40 partner institutions from approximately 30 countries in enlarged Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Collaboration with NICE Network has been ongoing since 2002. The cooperation was started by Prof. Ewa Oziewicz, and in the following years the network joined Prof. Danuta Marciniak-Neider (since 2005) and Prof. Joanna Bednarz (since 2015) from the former Institute of International Business (since 2019 Department of International Business).
NICE Network members organize annual meetings to develop joint projects, settle and implement long-term partnership agreements for students and academic teachers, and exchange ideas. Prof. Ewa Oziewicz actively participated in the work of the NICE Network Steering Committee for 8 years. Currently, a member of the Steering Committee is Prof. Joanna Bednarz (term 2019/20-2023/24).
This long-term commitment and systematic work resulted in numerous bilateral agreements signed under the Erasmus+ program. There are about 50 of them on the list of Faculty agreements, and there will be more of them, because currently, in addition to agreements with universities from EU countries, cooperation with universities from the Balkan countries is developing well. These bilateral agreements are supervised by Prof. Joanna Bednarz.
Every year, the Faculty of Economics hosts professors and lecturers from abroad who conduct workshops with our BA, MA, and Ph.D. students. One such person was Prof. Karine Oganisjana from the Riga University of Technology in Latvia. The professor conducted workshops on economic research methodology twice. In recent years, we have hosted representatives of Hochschule Bremen, Fahochschule Nordhausen, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Dresden, IMC University of Applied Sciences in Krems, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria School of Management in Steyr, Windesheim University in Zwolle, Artevelde Hogeschool in Ghent, Thomas University Baa in ilina, University of Applied Sciences in Turku, PAR University College in Rijeka.
Professors of universities that are members of the NICE Network are members of the Scientific Council of the IBaGE journal (International Business and Global Economy, ISSN 2300-6102). In turn, professors of the Faculty of Economics are invited to scientific councils of foreign journals and conferences at partner universities, ie. Prof. Ewa Oziewicz has been a member of the Editorial Board of "Business Management and Education" at the GediminoTechnicos University of Vilnius in Lithuania and the Consejo Asesor, Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias Economicas y Empresariales "PECVNIA" at the Universidad de Leon in Spain for many years.
In the years 2008-2018, a joint publication IJETE – International Journal of Emerging and Transition Economies was published, which is the result of cooperation within the NICE network with the Turkish Dokuz Eylul University. The editors on the Polish side were: Dr. Habil. Iwona Sobol (2008-2010), Dr. Habil. Iwona Sobol and Dr. Magdalena Markiewicz (2011-2013), and then Prof. Sylwia Pangsy-Kania. This journal was published alternately in Gdańsk and Izmir (https://ekonom.ug.edu.pl/web/IJETE/index.html?lang=en&ao=home_page).
The beneficiaries of close cooperation within the NICE network are students of the Faculty of Economics who can study abroad under agreements in the ERASMUS+ program and a bilateral agreement signed with Kyungpook National University Daegu in South Korea (under the supervision of Dr. Tomasz Czuba).
Since 1999, bilateral study trips abroad have been held for students of the Faculty of Economics and Hochschule Bremen from Germany (http://ekonom.ug.edu.pl/web/wymiana/), supervised by: Dr. Renata Orłowska, Dr. Magdalena Markiewicz and Dr. Katarzyna Bałandynowicz-Panfil, Dr. Magdalena Jażdżewska-Gutta and Dr. Monika Grottel. For three years, there has been an exchange of students with Artevelde Hogeschool from Belgium (https://ekonom.ug.edu.pl/web/news/index.html?lang=pl&ao=wydarzenia&action=ViewNews&item=ViewNews&IdNews=4998), supervised by Dr. Monika Grottel.
An important result of cooperation is the participation of University of Gdańsk employees in projects financed under the Erasmus+ program (and previously the Socrates/Erasmus program).
One of the first projects implemented after Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004-2007, in cooperation with 14 partners of the NICE Network, was the Interpersonal and Intercultural Competence for the Enlarged Europe – IICEE project (the project leader was Thames Valley University from London, currently the University of West London). It was attended by Prof. Ewa Oziewicz and Dr. Urszula Mrzygłód.
DigiMates Project – Development of an Innovative, Gamified and Interactive Method of Sdvanced e-Learning of Skills (Erasmus+ KA226 Partnership for Digital Education Readiness program).The project consortium consisted of 5 universities: University of Ljubljana (leader; Slovenia), Dokuz Eylul University (Turkey), Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences (Germany), University of Leon (Spain), and the University of Gdańsk. The project aimed to expand teachers' skills, based on elements of gamification using digital technologies and the exchange of best practices between various research centers. The project coordinator at the University of Gdańsk side was Prof. Joanna Bednarz, and the team also included: Dr. Magdalena Markiewicz, Dr. Aleksandra Aziewicz, Dr. Tomasz Michałowski and Przemysław Wysiński, M.A. (more about the project http://www.ef.uni-lj.si/DigiMates i https://ekonom.ug.edu.pl/web/wydzial/index.html?lang=pl&ao=digimates).
Another project resulting from cooperation within the NICE Network from the Erasmus+ program is the Partnership for Innovation of Exact Supporting Courses in Economics and Management Study Programs – PICEM, which was implemented by a team from the Faculty of Management of the University of Gdańsk. The project leader was the Tomas Bata University (Czech Republic) and the partners were: University of Leon (Spain), University of Huddersfield (Great Britain), and the University of Gdańsk. Its goal was to implement innovative teaching methods in teaching subjects such as mathematics, statistics, and econometrics, thanks to the exchange of experiences with the scientific and teaching staff of partner institutions (more about the project https://wzr.ug.edu.pl/picem/).
Years ago, cooperation within the NICE Network resulted in the signing of one of the first double diploma agreements in Poland and at the University of Gdańsk with Hochschule fur Technik und Wirtschaft Dresden (alongside such an agreement with Fachhochschule Kiel). Another agreement was signed in 2010 with the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, School of Business and Management in Steyr, Austria. Thanks to this agreement, students of the International Business specialization had the opportunity to study abroad and obtain a diploma from the University of Gdańsk and a foreign university at the same time (https://ekonom.ug.edu.pl/web/international/index.html?lang=pl&ao=double_diploma_program).
Currently, the signing of a double diploma agreement with another university cooperating in the NICE Network, the Technical University of Brno, is being finalized. The first pilot edition is planned for the academic year 2024/2025 (more on this topic https://ekonom.ug.edu.pl/web/news/?lang=pl&ao=wydarzenia&action=ViewNews&item=ViewNews&IdNews=5447).
Elaborated by: Joanna Bednarz, and Ewa Oziewicz