There is no doubt that Expo 2020 is a unique event that has a great chance to be a caesura in Dubai's history. It is, therefore, a great opportunity to promote Poland
– says dr Piotr Gabrielczak, Vice-Dean for International Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Sociology of the University of Lodz and he adds:
In all of this our students find themselves very well. At the Expo, they can prove themselves in tasks that will test their ability to work as a team, to overcome cultural differences and language barriers, their resistance to stress and ability to improvise. Thus, they will gain a complete experience. Expo is also a festival of momentum, imagination, openness, and looking to the future - and these aspects combine wonderfully with the youth and enthusiasm of our students, who are creative and natural, like the embodiment of the motto of the Polish Pavilion ("Creativity inspired by nature").
The primary task of the pavilion staff is to take care of the visitors to the national exhibition. Students are not only the guides, but also a showcase of our country. Their attitude and involvement largely determine impressions of those who have decided to devote their time to the Polish offer.
Dr hab. Agnieszka Bukowska-Piestrzyńska, head of the Department of Logistics and Innovations, University of Lodz had a chance to have a closer look at the professional placements of the students from Lodz:
The World Expo 2020 in Dubai consists of 188 pavilions, where the potential of individual countries is presented. Larger and smaller expositions, showing the tradition and modernity of a given country, both in a classic – exhibition way, as well as by the use of multimedia solutions. I visited only a dozen or so pavilions, but I have no doubt that the Polish one was a bit different – it was more cordial and cheerful. The students talked about the exhibition with a smile on their faces and it was a broad comment. With great commitment and enthusiasm they spoke about The Witcher and Lem, about bird migrations from Poland, about the economic potential (both in the area of furniture production and natural cosmetics) and geographical features, about the Eye of the Sea and the black hole... It was impressive – not only for me, but also for other visitors who could feel looked after by a student from the very moment they entered the pavilion.
The children's corner was a special place, where children could participate in various activities – art, music and manual ones, under the care of patient and resourceful Polish students. And the anthem sung by them on 11 November was an experience that will stay with me for a long time. If it had not been for the Polish students, the pavilion would not have been remembered, but it will stay in my memories.
– sums up dr hab. Agnieszka Bukowska-Piestrzyńska.
It is worth mentioning that Marta Zieliñska, coordinator for the Regional Promotion Programme and for cooperation with universities at the Polish Investment and Trade Agency SA, has played a significant role in shaping the standard of attitudes and ensuring a high quality of work among the students involved in the work of Polish Pavilion. At the University level, the task is being supervised by dr Jakub Doński-Lesiuk, who is in charge of the University of Lodz student internship project at the Dubai EXPO. University of Lodz has obtained PLN 600 thousand from the Ministry of Education and Science, becoming one of the four Polish universities involved in developing students' professional competences during the world's largest exhibition event, financed by a special-purpose grant.
The student internship project in the Polish Pavilion at EXPO is an excellent implementation of the values of our University, which have been defined in the University Strategy for the years 2021-2030. The strategy that obliges all of us to have courage, curiosity, commitment, cooperation and respect as the values that bind the academic community together. And it is impossible to deny the openness, curiosity and engagement of our students there.
– says dr Jakub Doński-Lesiuk, EXPO 2020 Dubai Ambassador on behalf of the University of Lodz and he adds:
I am very happy that I have had the opportunity to observe how our young people develop, how they become comfortable with differences, how they start to think in a more mature way in the face of everyday challenges and problems. After all, the practical dimension of forming attitudes and competences is something that is particularly valued both by modern science and the economic environment, for and in the interest of which we act by educating future graduates.
The current 13-person representation of the University of Lodz will stay at the EXPO until the end of December. Then it will be replaced by another team of 12 students – they will be there from January to March 2022. Every visitor to the Polish Pavilion in Dubai will have a chance to experience and see for themselves that the involvement of the young generation in promoting Poland around the world is a great added value.
We have written about #UniLodz students at EXPO 2020 in Dubai before
Source: Department of Logistics and Innovations, UL
Edit: Promotion Centre, UL