MY TRAINING MOBILITY IN OSTRAVA: Milica Vranić, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies

Milica Vranić
University of Arts, Student Service

Erasmus+ Mobility for Training at:

University of Ostrava, Czech Republic

From April 24 to 30, 2022, I was in Ostrava for the Erasmus Staff Week organized by the University of Ostrava. The University of Ostrava organized Erasmus Staff Week for the first time, so it was an honor to be a participant and attend an event like this.

Lectures and workshops lasted from Monday, April 25, to Friday, April 29, and were organized in the building of the Faculty of Social Sciences in the city center. The first day of the seminar was reserved for the presentation of the host University and the introduction of the participants. Through an informal workshop, all participants got the chance to present the Universities they are coming from as well as their functions. After the introduction, a welcome lunch was organized, where we continued informal socializing and getting to know each other. After lunch, we had an organized tour of the city center as well as important sights of the city of Ostrava. On the second day of the seminar, the topic was culture and cultural awareness, followed by a short Czech language course. In the afternoon, a visit to the Faculty of Human Movement Studies and their laboratories was organized, where we got acquainted with different types of human movement research and how research is conducted. The third day of the seminar was especially important for me because it was reserved for the Center for Counseling and the presentation of its activities. The Center for counseling of the University of Ostrava exists since 2018 and is organized to provide student counseling, career counseling, legal counseling and psychological counseling services. Student advisors work to enable all current and potential new students to get used to their studies and student life as easily as possible, as well as to help solve various problems. This presentation meant a lot to me because I had the opportunity to hear how another University solves student issues and how they try to show students a clearer picture of the possibilities of the University itself. On the fourth day of the seminar, a presentation of the Center for the Promotion of the University through various activities and events was organized. It is especially interesting to note that the Marketing Center has five employees whose task is to present the University in the best possible way in order to attract both domestic and foreign students. They pay special attention to organizing an open day at which they represent the faculties within the University, as well as presentations in high schools. The Center for Marketing and Promotion of Social Activities also organizes a gala dinner for employees at the university once a year, which enables socializing of colleagues and the exchange of experiences. On the last day, the Center for Human Resources was presented, and after the presentation, we had a very educational and interactive workshop on the topic of mobbing and sexual harassment in the workplace. It was a great opportunity to come up with constructive solutions to reduce or eliminate this burning problem.

The last activity after the five-day seminar was the evaluation of the Erasmus staff week. Each participant clearly gave their opinion on the whole week, what was the best and what was the worst thing, after which we discussed a bit and concluded that Erasmus Staff Week at the University of Ostrava was a truly unique experience that provided us with quality lectures and workshops, getting to know colleagues from different parts of Europe and mutual exchange of experiences and practices.