On Saturday, 8 October, at the Faculty of Philology, University of Lodz welcoming meetings for the new international students of the University of Lodz were held. They were addressed to the full-time international students of our university.
The first of the meetings was held in Polish, as a group of more than 500 new students – the largest part of the international students – study in Polish. The most popular fields of study in Polish include Philology, IT and Marketing. They are mostly chosen by the citizens of Ukraine and Belarus.
During the second meeting employees of the International Relations Office (BWZ) met new students studying in English. There are more than 350 of them. Of the fields of studies taught in English, IT, Economics and International Relations are the most popular ones. The majority of the new students this year come from Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. But there are many more nationalities!
During the welcome meetings, the students obtained crucial information concerning studying at the University of Lodz and the everyday life in Lodz. The International Relations Office employees, who have been dealing with internationalisation for years, know how important cultural differences are in everyday life and try to make our new students aware of it.
Barbecue at Rogowska street was the last one of the series of welcome meetings. The International Relations Office team together with the Erasmus Student Network, University of Lodz (the largest international student organisation in Europe) planned a number of outdoor games.
The international students also had a chance to get to know one of the UL Rectors, Professor Robert Zakrzewski, who attended all the Saturday meetings.
Great atmosphere and lovable people. I hope it's not just because it's the beginning!
– assessed one of the international students.
It’s worth noting that this year, in addition to the full-time international students, we also have 500 students from partner universities, who participate in the semester exchange programmes (e.g. Erasmus+ programme). The inaugural meeting with this group of students took place on Tuesday, 4 October, in the full purple assembly hall at the Faculty of Law and Administration. Students from Spanish universities constitute the largest group. Turkey, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Italy and Portugal are behind them.
I have heard that Generation Z is reluctant to meet in person. However, I can see that it's not true!
– Prof. Eleonora Bielawska-Batorowicz, the UL Rector’s Representative for International Exchange Programmes was pleasantly surprised.
More photos from the meetings with the international exchange students can be found on Flickr of the university of Lodz in two albums:
We would like to thank all the international students for their participation in the organised events. We keep our fingers crossed for your scientific successes and we wish you a really nice stay!
Source: International Relations Office, University of Lodz
Edit: Promotion Centre, University of Lodz