Bilateral student exchanges, sharing of experience in science and research, joint study programmes, and examples of good practice in science development strategy, project management, and curriculum internationalisation – those were among the main points of the meetings held earlier this week by Palacký University Rector Martin Procházka during his visit to the University of Minnesota. In Minneapolis he concluded his short work trip to the USA, which was also his first in his new role as President of the Aurora international university consortium.
“It was a splendid opportunity to present the research and educational activities not only of Palacký University Olomouc, but also of all universities associated in the Aurora network, where I took over the presidential duties from Jón Atli Benediktsson from Iceland in September. The University of Minnesota is one of the most prestigious and dynamic research centres, it has long been considered one of the top universities in the USA, and it is also ranked in the top 100 universities internationally. I am therefore very happy that we and our European universities can continue to count on this strategic global partner, with whom we want to develop even closer and more intensive collaboration within the Aurora network,” said Procházka.
During his visit to the University of Minnesota he met, among others, with Rachel Croson, Executive Vice President and Provost for the Twin Cities campus, attended by over 50,000 students in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Other attendees of the meetings included Shashank Priya, Vice President for Research and Innovation; Harvey Charles, Vice Provost for International Affairs; Karen Brown, Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change; and other representatives of the central international office of the University of Minnesota system, the Global Programs and Strategy Alliance, which is dedicated to internationalising study programs.
“There is a lot of interest in two-way student exchanges on the part of the University of Minnesota. We also talked about the possibilities of using the COIL method (Collaborative Online International Learning), in which professors and their students from different countries work together on team activities through various online platforms. One of the joint activities could also be an online course for both our and American students focusing on the SDGs, i.e. the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations programme for improving the quality of life in member countries and beyond by 2030,” added Tereza Kalousková, Head of the Office for Partnership of the UP Division for International Cooperation, who accompanied the UP Rector on his trip to the USA.
