Foreign visiting professors ProUG

Summary of the program of inclusion of visiting professors from abroad in the education process at the Faculty of Economics as part of the "ProUG" project.

In the period from October 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023, the Faculty of Economics participated in the Project entitled"Development Program of the University of Gdańsk (ProUG)" implemented under the Operational Program Knowledge Education Development (POWER) on the basis of the agreement No. POWR.03.05.00-00-Z308/17-00, concluded between the National Center for Research and Development and the University of Gdańsk onDecember 11, 2017.

As part of the ProUG project at the Faculty of Economics, as many as 12 agreements on international cooperation were implemented in the scope of including visiting professors in the education process at the Faculty of Economics.

It is worth noting that activities in the field of building the internationalization of the didactic offer were carried out in the initial phase of the project in difficult conditions related to pandemic restrictions (academic years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021), and despite this, a lot of extremely interesting lectures and workshops were organizedon a wide variety of economic topics.

After easing the restrictions, it was possible to conduct lectures in the stationary formula (academic year 2021/2022).

Lectures were conducted in the form of obligatory and optional subjects in the field of Economics and in the field of International Economic Relations, including the International Business specialization (major: International Economic Relations), in stationary, online or hybrid form.

Among the 12 didactic programs implemented, 9 agreements concerned the inclusion of visiting professors from European universities, from 7 countries (Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Spain, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal), and 3 agreements concerned the inclusion of visiting professors from the USA.

In the summer semester of the academic year2019/2020 and in the winter semester of the academic year2020/2021 lectures entitledInnovative market research was conducted by prof.Luis Alberto Casado Aranda, University of Granada, Spain (supervising: dr hab. Przemysław Borkowski, prof. UG).

In the summer semester of the academic year 2020/2021, full-time cycles of lectures in obligatory and optional subjects were planned, conducted by 4 visiting professors from foreign universities.The classes covered a variety of topics selected in terms of specialties and interests of students of the Faculty of Economics.

The titles of the lectures and their lecturers were:

• How to prepare master thesis in economics, prof. Karine Oganisjana, University of Riga, Łotwa (supervising: dr hab. Monika Bąk, prof. UG);
• Intercultural Communication, prof. Cynthia Mejia, Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, USA  (supervising: dr Katarzyna Bałandynowicz-Panfil, dr Magdalena Jażdżewska-Gutta);
• Strategic Management. Workshop, prof. Paul Matthyssens, University of Antverp, Belgia (supervising: dr Marek Reysowski);
• Tourism and Hospitality Management, prof. Marissa Orlowski, Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, USA (supervising: dr hab. Piotr Zientara, prof. UG).

In the summer semester of the academic year 2021/2022, series of lectures and consultations of 5 visiting professors from foreign universities were planned, who taught the following subjects in the field of Economics and in the field of International Economic Relations:

• Consumers' Behaviour Towards Environmental Protection, prof. Sara Sousa, Coimbra Business School, Portugalia, marzec – kwiecień 2022 r. (supervising: dr hab. Anna Maria Nikodemska-Wołowik, prof. UG, dr hab. Joanna Kuczewska, prof. UG);
• Entrepreneurship: Theory, Mindset and Modelling, prof. Dawid Kee, USA (supervising: opieka nad przedmiotem: dr hab. Piotr Zientara, prof. UG, dr hab. Joanna Kuczewska, prof. UG);
• European Integration Economics, prof. Rasa Daugeliene, Kaunas University of Technology, Litwa (supervising: dr hab. Stanisław Umiński, prof. UG, dr Aleksandra Borowicz, dr Maciej Krzemiński);
• Managing organizations and organizational change, prof. Niksa Alfirević, University of Split, Chorwacja (supervising: dr hab. Joanna Kuczewska, prof. UG);
• Marketing for Managers, prof. Robert Zich, Brno University of Technology, Czechy (supervising: dr hab. Joanna Pietrzak, prof. UG, dr Magdalena Markiewicz);
• Project planning and management, prof. Srećko Goic, University of Split, Chorwacja, marzec – kwiecień 2022 r.  (supervising: dr hab. Joanna Kuczewska, prof. UG).

The effect of the implementation of an important component of the ProUG project regarding the inclusion of visiting professors in the education process was the internationalization of didactic classes conducted at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Gdańsk, as well as the establishment of many relationships for the development of scientific research and didactic cooperation in the future.

This gave grounds for strengthening further cooperation and academic exchange, building new paths of scientific and didactic development, as well as conducting joint research.

From the students' point of view, an extremely important advantage of this extremely wide-ranging cooperation was the introduction of an international perspective on the economic aspects of the subjects, new teaching methods, the use of the experience of foreign lecturers who are outstanding specialists and often also practitioners in their field, as well as increasing the competenceand language skills.

Elaboration:

dr Magdalena Markiewicz, Faculty Coordinator of the Project "ProUG - Development Program of the University of Gdańsk"

Photos: Magdalena Markiewicz