Plenary session of Polish-Czech Association of Universities
An important meeting was held at the University of Opole on 4-5 November 2021. Its plenary session dealt, among other things, with the goals and achievements of the Conference of Rectors of Silesian Universities / Polish-Czech Association of Universities, the functioning of the UO in its environment, including cross-border cooperation. Also, rectors currently in office - signatories of the founding declaration signed in Petrovice in November 2019, discussed directions and operational activities of the Association, created from the transformed Conference of Silesian Universities.
The general discussion touched on the directions of development and functioning of the Association.
“The most important conclusion is that despite the Covid-19 pandemic, which put work on the concept and development of the Association on hold, it will continue to exist and operate,” said the Rector of the UO, Prof. Marek Masnyk, the host of the meeting. “This year we met three times, in Opole and in Opava, and we talked about giving a new life to the 2019 project. In the meantime, the University of Liberec withdrew from the Association. At the last meeting held a few days ago, we decided to continue the idea of the Polish-Czech University Association, with the consent of all its members.”
Then, Prof. Masnyk was appointed President of the Association and the Rector of the University of Opava, Associate Professor Pavel Tuleja, was appointed as his deputy.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us," said Prof. Masnyk. “We are planning to organise the secretariat of the Association by May next year. We want to gather documents from the past years, prepare the statute, develop a new formula of activity, and create an advisory board of young scientists who will be able to gather a lot of enthusiasts around them.”
As Prof. Masnyk emphasised, the main objective of the Association is to develop wide cooperation, realised mainly in joint applications for research grants and joint conduct of scientific research, not only in the area of the humanities, but also in other fields. “We would also like to extend an invitation to the representatives of local governments of the regions where the associated universities operate, as well as to scientific institutions, such as our Silesian Institute," added the new President of the Association.
The meeting was closed with a presentation of the book by Jan Rychlik and Vladimir Penczew: “History of the Czech Republic”.
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The meeting was attended by the rectors of the following universities:
University of Silesia in Katowice
University of Economics in Katowice
University of Wroclaw
Wrocław University of Economics
University of Ostrava
Silesian University in Opava
University of Opole
The meeting was hosted by the Rector of the OU, Prof. Marek Masnyk, Vice Rector for Research, Prof. Jacek Lipok, and Vice Rector for Development and Finance, Prof. Rafał Matwiejczuk.