UPWr receives SPINAKER funding

The SPINAKER program, organised by the National Agency for Academic Exchange, helps give Polish universities and science an international presence by financing projects aimed at promoting and expanding the educational offer for foreign students (incl. doctoral students) in order to encourage them to study in Poland. Among others, the aim of the funding is the creation of new intensive international education programs (IMPK) – implemented remotely or in a hybrid model, modification of the existing IMPK by giving them more international visibility and the possibility of remote participation, as well as recruitment of participants and preparation of academic staff.

The University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław has been cooperating with foreign partners for years, including on clinical veterinary research, cutting edge production technologies, food safety, climate change, sustainable agriculture systems and global satellite observation. In cooperation with the Ghent University, for example, research is being carried out on reproductive biotechnology methods to protect the biodiversity of wild animals in danger of extinction, and as part of university exchange program Belgian doctoral student Guillaume Domain has come to the UPWr to conduct further work on his doctorate. The list of UPWr partners also includes Imperial College London, the University of Copenhagen, the Delft University of Technology, the University of Bern, the Dresden University of Technology, the Vienna University of Technology, Iowa State University, and the University of British Columbia.

To further develop the international approach of the university, the project "Excellence in clinical sciences – a project to improve clinical competences of students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine" was submitted to the SPINAKER program, obtaining nearly PLN 500,000 in funding. Dr. Katarzyna Lech-Książkiewicz is responsible for administrative management, with the content prepared by Prof. Artur Niedźwiedź with the participation of the Dean's College of the FVM.

The aim of the project is to provide students with specialist knowledge and  to improve their clinical skills in the diagnosis and treatment of farm animals, horses and small companion animals such as cats and dogs.

As part of "Excellence in Clinical Sciences" project, three intensive international education programs are to be created, dedicated to individual species of animals. Prof. Artur Niedźwiedź will be responsible for their creation, and they will take place in a hybrid model – in the form of online lectures and practical workshops with the use of medical equipment, among others. These courses, conducted by foreign veterinary specialists, are addressed to foreign students studying at the UPWr, at the veterinary medicine department (English Division), Erasmus + and CEEPUS scholarship holders, and students from other foreign veterinary departments.

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