Renata Markauskienė, the Head of the Library in the Faculty of Health Care, participated in ERASMUS+ programme in the Staff Training Week from 3-7 October, 2022 at the WSG University in Bydgoszcz, Poland (Wyższa Szkoła Gospodarki).
WSG University was founded in 1989 by Kolfer Company. It was one of the first private institutions in the country. In 2019 WSG University celebrated its 30th anniversary. The University provides studies in the fields of medicine, tourism, economy, business, art, social and humanitarian, information technology, and engineering. Each year 7 thousand students from all over the world come to study at WSG University in Bydgoszcz and at faculties in other 8 cities in Poland. Apart from bachelor, master and engineer degree studies, postgraduate studies, various forms of professional education are offered.
The social services established by WSG University, such as the Elderly University, Design and Printing studio, Academic Kindergarten, Children‘s University, Daily Care Houses, Food sharing points and Beehives on the roof, confirm their motto: “It’s more than University!”.
The representatives from Czech Republic, Lithuanian and Estonian higher schools who came to the 4th International Staff Training Week had a great opportunity to get information about WSG University, strategy, challenges, new opportunities, future plans, and Polish culture and language. The participants presented their institutions, shared their academic experience and the country’s culture, history, and language features.
During the experience sharing session, there was a discussion about the particularity of incoming students from other countries, about the studies quality from students view of point, the expansion of library services and the need to create a place to spend leisure time, as well as opportunities for students to use Erasmus+, Erasmus for young entrepreneurs and the “European Solidarity Corps” volunteering programs.
A visit to the WSG University Library was particularly useful, which allowed us to gain information about the structure, services, collections and electronic resources of the library. The library is a center of attraction where students like to spend time, use the reading rooms, computers, digitization devices, work group rooms, and the kitchen. The library offers more than 50 thousand documents and 18 foreign databases. There is The European Documentation Center. It is the only specialized European library in Bydgoszcz, which has a collection of publications of the European Communities, available free of charge in both paper and electronic versions in the official languages of the European Union. WSG University volunteers from other countries are happy to help the library staff in the digitization of documents.
The Erasmus+ staff training week was a great opportunity to meet and discuss with colleagues from academic institutions of other countries, gain new international experience, and improve professional competences.
