Summer University Opened

60 guests from China, Indonesia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan gathered in the Senate Hall at Collegium Maius, where they were greeted by the Vice-Rector for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Izabella Pisarek, Dean of the Faculty of Philology, Prof. Joanna Czaplińska, and Dr Stankomir Nicieja from the Institute of English Philology.

- I am pleased to welcome you to the Summer University of Opole, a stay here is a special opportunity to get to know not only the university, but also Opole, a unique place in Poland and Europe," said Prof. Pisarek.

- I hope that your stay in Opole will be successful, and that it will be a beautiful time," added Prof. Czaplińska.

Dr Stankomir Nicieja asked the guests to visit the Museum of the University of Opole, expressing the hope that in the coming days the weather will be more conducive to getting to know the city than the Tuesday one, which welcomed the participants of the Summer University with rain.

After three years of operation, English Summer School adopted the Summer University formula. 60 participants from China, Indonesia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan came to the UO to learn English for academic purposes in a variety of disciplines and to get to know Poland and Europe. Four groups of Asian students came from partner universities: Fujian Normal University, Southwest University and Dalian University of Languages from China, and the Universitas Brawijaya from Malang, Indonesia.

Students will spend three weeks intensively studying English, and in the afternoons they will be divided into specialist groups: Intercultural competence & communication, Academic English or Art and literature. In the evenings, artistic and cultural activities are planned, and on weekends, the students will be offered trips to Wrocław, Cracow and European capitals. Summer University is rapidly developing as a result of the expansion of the range of English-language studies and the growing number of foreigners at the UO.

Summer University will last until August 4, 2018. The Summer University of Opole is a result of agreements signed with Chinese universities and intensive building of relations with universities from outside the EU within the framework of the Key Action 107 of the Erasmus+ Programme.

Every year Summer School attracts more and more students, and the classes are conducted not only by lecturers and doctoral students from the Faculty of Philology, but also from the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Chemistry and the Faculty of Arts. Summer University is headed by Dr Stankomir Nicieja from the Institute of English Philology and is run by the Department for International Programmes of Studies. The school is held under the honorary patronage of Professor Janusz Słodczyk, Vice-Rector for Science and Finance.

The participants are staying on the university campus and are accompanied in their additional classes by our students from Poland, Ukraine and Turkey.