AACSB accredited AMBA accredited
Contact ul. Gagarina 13a, 87-100 Toruń
tel.: +48 56 611 4600
Solidarity with Ukraine

INTERNATIONAL STAFF WEEK 2022 MANAGING THE CHALLENGES OF ACADEMIC WORK IN TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY AND STRESS, Toruń, 23-27.05.2022

Brief Overview of Location and Organizers

Poland and the City of Toruń

Modern Poland emerged from decades of state control and suffering from communist regime established on its territory after World War II (WWII). The nation remade itself in reform movement called Solidarity that helped to restore democratic rights and market-based economy. Perhaps for this bottom-up approach, Poland has fared considerably better than many other post-communist countries. Accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004 confirmed the success of Poland’s effort and indicated a development path leading toward the level of Europe’s most advanced economies. Today Poland is the sixth largest economy in the EU 27 (by nominal GDP) and the fifth taking in account almost 38 million of its population; a member of the Schengen Area, the United Nations, NATO, the OECD, the Three Seas Initiative and the Visegrád Group. The country’s future as an advanced economy depends mostly on the development of technology. Actions, including public policy, are therefore needed to create an environment more conducive to high-tech growth.

Toruń – a beautiful historical city located on the Vistula River in north-central Poland – has almost 200 thousand inhabitants. It is situated at a major road junction in Poland with A1 highway and has also a modern railway station. The nearest airport in located in Bydgoszcz, around 50 km from Toruń. As a medieval pearl its old city has been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.  It is visited by more than 2 million tourists each year. They are attracted by the city’s charm and gothic beauty, tasty famous gingerbread and numerous cultural and sports events.

The image of Toruń is shaped also by more than 20 thousand energetic young people studying here. The biggest and most recognized university in the region owes its name to the most famous citizen of the city – a true Renaissance man, astronomer and economist, born in Toruń in 1473.

The Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń

The Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (NCU) was founded in 1945. It is one of the largest universities in Poland, boasting with a title of one of the leading research universities in Poland. Currently comprising of 17 faculties (including 3 medical faculties at Collegium Medicum in neighbouring city of Bydgoszcz) it provides graduate and postgraduate courses for almost 25 000 students, offering education in over 100 fields of study and 55 postgraduate courses. The university employs over 4000 staff on both Toruń and Bydgoszcz campuses, over half of whom are academic teachers. NCU alumni now number around 200 000. NCU has state-of-the-art research infrastructure including the National Laboratory of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics or the Interdisciplinary Center for Modern Technologies to name but a few. The Centre for Astronomy in Piwnice near Toruń houses a unique 32-meter radio telescope. Spitsbergen (in the Arctic Sea) is home to NCU Polar Station. NCU researchers can boast a number of spectacular successes which include, among others, the design and construction of an Optical Coherence Tomography instrument, an ultra-modern device for medical eye examinations. he NCU actively participates in student and staff exchange programs at international (the Erasmus+ program) and is a member of YUFE (Young Universities for the Future of Europe), one of the 41 consortia selected by the European Commission to build and test the model of the European University – open, non-elitist and integrating various communities, as well as promoting innovation, interdisciplinarity and the highest quality in research and education.

The Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management

The mission of the academic community of the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management is to conduct research enriching knowledge about the economy, to provide education based on the latest theoretical achievements and practical solutions, and to shape attitudes that are socially responsible, open and focused on building positive relationships.

We are one of the largest and best equipped faculties at Nicolaus Copernicus University. Highly qualified staff offers a wide range of subject expertise, cares about maintaining ethics and standards of teaching ability. Most of our scientists undertake a significant amount of research and scholar activity.

Our Faculty offers three levels of teaching programs: bachelor, master and doctoral as well as postgraduate studies and MBA courses on Executive Master of Business Administration studies. The quality of teaching is assured by international accreditations. As a Faculty accredited by Association of MBAs we are among 2% of the best business schools in the world. The Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management is also the only one public school in Poland accredited by Association to Advance Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (AACSB). Currently, only 5% of all business schools in the world hold an AACSB accreditation including: Harvard University or London Busines School. Receiving AACSB Accreditation means that a given institution is able to achieve a rigorous set of quality standards established and controlled by AACSB International.

We are indeed internationalized! The Faculty boasts with significant number of active international collaborations enabling mobilities for students and staff in the EU countries and outside.

Program Description

Main Goal and Expected Outcomes of the International Staff Week (ISW)

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced implementation of major changes in the way we communicate, interact and work, all of which have had a massive impact upon all aspects of our lives, also upon education. The pandemic has changed work schedule and everyday routine of academic communities. In the first pandemic phase the technological challenges, i.e., the necessity of expanding the repertoire of the technical means and skills of online education and research were most important. With time they were gradually managed as e-learning quickly became a crucial tool for universities and other higher education institutions during the global pandemic. Soon universities faced also very serious social problems as teachers and students previously dependent on in-class meetings, were challenged to become self-directed, distancing themselves from their colleagues and instructors. The lack of in-person activities has made it harder to build and sustain academic and private networks. Also, after a return to the “new normality”, universities face the need to rebuild relationships among faculty members and students and to give assistance in order to solve individual psychological and social problems and stress.

Since 24th of February, 2022 the world and especially the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has been hit with another crisis connected with a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The humanitarian, social and economic impacts of invasion and also of sanctions on Russia will have a substantial impact on the global economy but they will especially influence the development of the whole region of the CEE as the war also triggered Europe’s largest refugee crisis since WWII. It will also influence academic life in some countries as Ukrainian students and scholars should be integrated with the academic communities.

As a result of such occurrences like pandemic, war or any other serious internal or external conflict, the societies face challenges of uncertainty and stress. Changes and stress connected with the need to adapt to new conditions and ways of work appear also in such a community like academia and touch all its members – staff and students.

The International Staff Week will be a platform to discuss possible solutions to problems connected with change and other serious stress factors based on the latest experience of The Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. But it is also designed as a forum for sharing best practices from partner institutions.

We invite you to network, discuss and acquire new knowledge and skills. We will provide training how to cope with uncertainty and stress in the academic environment. The purpose is to improve the ability to deal with problems that result from stress factors connected with current situation and crises. It should help to solve individual problems and also support the problem-solving processes in the academic community each participant represents.

TUESDAY, 24th of May

Morning: Session I. Recent Stress Factors Influencing Academic Work – Pandemic and War in Ukraine: Best Practices

10:00 – 11.30 Part 1. Nicolaus Copernicus University Experiences and Procedures connected with Pandemic and War in Ukraine

11.30 Coffee break

12:00 – 13:30 Part 2. Presentations and discussions – best practices in partner universities in the field of the ISW (participants will be asked to prepare short presentations: max. 15 mins for each partner institution)

13.30-14.30 Lunch (canteen at the Faculty, approx. 25-30 PLN)

Afternoon: Continuation of presentations and discussions – best practices in partner universities in the field of the ISW

WEDNESDAY, 25th of May

Morning: Session II. EMOTION AID (training offered by psychologist Lidia Chylewska-Barakat, PhD)         

10:00 – 11:30 Part 1.

11:30 Coffee break

12:00 – 13:30 Part 2.

13:30-14:30 Lunch (canteen at the Faculty, approx. 25-30 PLN)

Afternoon: networking (individual meetings with Faculty staff concerning possible collaboration for academics and arrangements for job shadowing for administration)

THURSDAY, 26th of May

Morning: Individual Activities

10:00 – 11:30 Part 1. Individual trainings, consultations, job shadowing

11:30 Coffee break

12:00 – 13:30 Part 2. Individual trainings, consultations, job shadowing (cont.)

13.30-14:30 Lunch (canteen at the Faculty, approx. 25-30 PLN)

Free afternoon for further integration

FRIDAY, 27th of May

Trip “Through Contemporary Polish History” to Gdańsk (full day) – with special attention the traditions of solidarity in Poland as a tool of managing social disorders

Gdańsk is not only one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and a major tourist destination in Poland with many historical treasures, but most of all a witness of events which shaped not only modern history of Europe. This city is considered to be a symbolic place of WWII outbreak in Europe in 1939. In the 1980s, Gdańsk was also the birthplace of the Solidarity movement associated with its leader, recognized around the world – Lech Wałęsa, a dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, that played a major role in bringing an end to communist rule in Poland and Europe and helped precipitate the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Referring to this, we will have the possibility to visit the city and especially: European Solidarity Center and Museum of the WWII (main exhibition and virtual reality exhibition).

More information (booklet)

Deadline for application: 29/04/2022: milenam@umk.pl