The Third Una Europa Student Congress in Kraków

This year’s last blog post is also another in the series covering Una Europa’s autumn 2022. It is written by our LTF member Saana:

The Third Una Europa Student Congress in Kraków

Now that the end of the year is approaching fast and steady, it is a good time to stop for a moment, take a breath, and glimpse back at one of the most exciting events of the Autumn: Student Congress.

Una Europa Student Congress was held for the third time from 26th to 28th October 2022 and this time the host of the event was Uniwersytet Jagielloński in Kraków, Poland. The main goal of the event was to bring the students from all over Una Europa’s partner universities together to discuss, network and contemplate on how the university of the future might and should look like. Additionally, during the opening ceremony of the student congress, the #UnaForUkraine fundraising campaign was launched to show that Una Europa stands with Ukraine.

Students from our University of Helsinki also traveled to Kraków in order to participate in the Congress. Sara Korjunen, Student Board member from our university, took part in the Congress to meet students from different universities and work together with them. In addition, Sara was excited to learn through interactive experiences and being able to do all this while traveling to a new city that she hasn’t been to before:

“I think the most memorable thing about the Student Congress was when we were given the opportunity to find solutions to problems presented to us in teams. We were able to talk about current problems in the academic life. Brainstorming possible solutions in multicultural teams was a super interesting experience! In that moment I felt like our voices were truly heard,” Sara says.

Ida Laakkonen, a doctoral researcher from the Faculty of Law, attended the PhD networking event which was held concurrently with the Student Congress in Uniwersytet Jagielloński. Ida participated in the PhD networking event in order to meet other junior researchers from the Una Europa partner universities, and exchange ideas and experiences with them. Discussing all the different aspects of doctoral research while taking walks around the city and museums was the most memorable part of the event for Ida.

She says: “The PhD networking event is essential to connect junior researchers and create long-term shared initiatives while ensuring the presence of junior researchers in the Una Europa Community”.

And that is one of the goals of Una Europa. To create a community for students between Una Europa partner universities, and to build a university free of country borders. Like Sara says: 

“The Congress gives the opportunity of an international experience for students. During those few days students get to meet each other, learn, and work together. It also assures the students that their voices matter and their ideas are taken seriously.”

 

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