From 17th to 21st June, a series of training sessions for academic and administrative staff was held at the University of Warsaw. The programme was focused on intercultural communication. More than 30 participants from 23 countries took part in the event.

As part of the Erasmus+ programme, employees of partner universities can benefit from various initiatives to improve their competences. One of them is the Erasmus Staff Week, which took place for the thirteenth time at the University of Warsaw. It was organised by the UW International Relations Office.

This year’s Erasmus Staff Week was attended by more than 30 people from various countries, such as Austria, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia. The workshops on intercultural communication and competences in the academic environment played a central role in the event’s programme. These were aimed at preparing participants to better cooperate with students, employees and institutional partners from all over the world.

“This is my first Erasmus Staff Training. I find it interesting, because I can connect with people from different countries, universities. I am impressed with the history of the University and its pretty campus. During my stay, I also had a chance to visit the University of Warsaw Library. This is a great place for students to get knowledge as well to blend oneself in it. I think that the University of Warsaw will be more and more advanced in the future. It has an excellent quality of how to deliver workshops,” said Duriati Asmawati from Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia.

“It is great to meet people from a variety of backgrounds, learn about other cultures and how to interact with each other. We want to send more students here and we think we could convince them better, now that we have experienced it ourselves, highlighting various advantages of studying in Warsaw,” emphasised Elodie Osborne and Louise Turton from the University of Sussex.

In addition to the workshops, the Erasmus Staff Week’s participants could take part in a guided tour around the campus at Krakowskie Przedmieście and attend a Polish language course.