It’s international and interdisciplinary! Students from all over the world have come to the summer school at Bialystok University of Technology

Summer school participants include representatives from 7 foreign universities: İzmir Institute of Technology and İstanbul Üniversitesi – Cerrahpaşa (Turkey), Universitat Politècnica de València and Universidad de Córdoba (Spain), Sapienza Università di Roma and Università di Bologna (Italy), Université de technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard (France). They are students of various specialisations: architects, constructors, sanitary installation engineers, energy engineers, electrical installation engineers, automation engineers. They were joined by three students from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences of Bialystok University of Technology. They all met together on Monday 26 June 2023 to officially start the summer school activities and meet their lecturers.

– I want to further improve my English, gain new knowledge and skills, and simply test myself. I make no secret of the fact that I was also tempted by the possibility of gaining more certificates to enrich my CV. This is the second time I participate in the international summer school at Bialystok University of Technology and I find it an incredible experience. I still keep in touch with some of the foreign students I met a year ago, – Rafał Zawistowski, a second-year student of environmental engineering at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, told us.

– The school’s curriculum is very interesting, although in my case the issues related to energy-efficient construction are not new. I learned about them at university. However, I am keen to attend meetings at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering on photovoltaics and at the Faculty of Computer Science on smart home technology. The summer school, on the other hand, seems to me to be more about learning about other cultures and working with other people. This is what convinced me the most to participate, – said Olga Daniszewska, an environmental engineering student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences.

The international summer school ‘Energy-efficient construction, users and environment friendly ‘ is an endeavour of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, implemented with the support of staff from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and the Faculty of Computer Science of Bialystok University of Technology. Specialists from foreign partner universities are also involved in the teaching process. The whole project is organised thanks to funding from the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange in the SPINAKER – International Intensive Programmes competition and European Union funds from the Knowledge Education Development Operational Programme.

Classes at Bialystok University of Technology will take place from 26.06 to 08.07.2023. During this time, in addition to the on-site classes at the university, there will be study visits to the Nibe Biawar company and the Białystok Power Plant. Cultural workshops and a series of sightseeing trips to Tykocin and Suprasl are also planned. The two-week on-site course will be complemented by online classes.

The programme of the summer school focuses on energy-efficient construction, which is a response to the need to introduce ecological and low-cost user- and environment-friendly solutions. Under the guidance of specialists from Bialystok University of Technology and partner universities, foreign students will gain knowledge and skills in creating low-energy buildings. They will work in interdisciplinary teams.

Four thematic modules will be realised at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences. These include topics related to architecture, modern materials, indoor installations and renewable heat sources. In the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, courses will deal with lighting and energy reduction. In the Faculty of Computer Science, classes will focus on building control, including smart building and other intelligent technologies used in modern construction.

– The international summer schools allow students to develop all sorts of skills that are extremely useful on the international labour market. These include having the courage to take on various international initiatives, gaining unique competences in working together in multi-discipline teams, unleashing creativity and language freedom, as well as gaining knowledge and skills in the very up-to-date topic of creating low-energy buildings. Therefore, I hope that by participating in initiatives such as this one, they will find a job on the international labour market in the future, but also benefit from networking with universities and companies in Poland. I believe that the participants of the summer school will start to build it during their stay at Bialystok University of Technology, – emphasises project coordinator Assoc. Prof. Dorota Anna Krawczyk, DSc, PhD, Eng, Vice-Rector for International Cooperation at Bialystok University of Technology.

The University’s activities under the programme “SPINNAKER – International Intensive Programmes” are coordinated by the team of the International Relations Office of Bialystok University of Technology. The project International Interdisciplinary Summer School “Energy-efficient construction, users and environment friendly” is being implemented by the staff of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and the Faculty of Computer Science. The project has a duration of 24 months, starting in September 2021.
The value of the funding received is PLN 523,945.00.

by mr