Cooperation agreement with Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology signed

On 21 December 2022, the University of Opole signed a cooperation agreement with Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology of Hualien, Taiwan.

The agreement paves the way for the development of scientific cooperation between the universities and student exchanges. The Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology specialises in medical sciences. It has faculties of nursing, radiological technology, health management, information technology, and marketing and management. The university is located in the city of Hualien, on the east coast of Taiwan.

The signing ceremony took place in the Plafond Hall of the Collegium Maius on 21 December 2022. On behalf of the University of Opole, the cooperation agreement was signed by the Vice-Rector for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Izabella Pisarek.

“This agreement provides first and foremost an opportunity to improve the qualifications of our students,” said Prof. Pisarek. “The partner university from Taiwan offers a wide range of opportunities, especially for students of medicine and all those offered by the Faculty of Health Sciences and Faculty of Medicine. I know that our students have already expressed their interest in this collaboration. I hope that it will develop very productively.”

The UO Vice-Rector also emphasised that the great value of the agreement just signed by the Opole University is also the exchange of experience, intercultural exchange and the opportunity to learn about a different culture of academic teaching. “All intercultural exchanges are very valuable because they teach us about different sensibilities,” she concluded.

Prof. Stankomir Nicieja, one of the coordinators of the UO's cooperation with Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology, said that the initiative for this cooperation came from the Taiwanese university. He stressed, however, that the UO had cooperated with universities in Taiwan for a long time. “The agreement signed today is the result of the cooperation the University of Opole entered into with the Tzu Chi Foundation, a charitable foundation that assists people in various crisis situations. The foundation has become involved in helping refugees from Ukraine in the Opole region," explained Prof. Nicieja. The signed agreement concerns primarily student exchange. “We hope that students of medicine in particular will be able to visit Taiwan, and students who come from Taiwan will be able to see what teaching is like in our country and how our health service functions,” he said.

The signing ceremony was also attended by representatives of the Tzu Chi Foundation: Radosław Atlas and his Taiwan-born wife Lola Chen Atlas. 

“We hope that the signing of the cooperation agreement will soon be followed by concrete actions: student exchanges, scientific cooperation, and joint conferences,” emphasised Lola Chen and Radosław Atlas. “It is necessary to cooperate, exchange and benefit from such contacts. Since the pandemic, we have all been craving them. Taiwan is a good place to build such relationships.”

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