On November 18, 2023, a ceremony was held in Giessen, the headquarters of the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM) - a partner university of the University of Zielona Góra, to award diplomas to the graduates of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (EI THM) from the academic year 2022/2023. One of the recipients of the completion diploma from THM was a student of the Faculty of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Automation of the University of Zielona Góra, Dominik Zaborniak, a participant of the Integrated Foreign Studies at THM and UZ. Mr. Dominik Zaborniak was one of over fifty graduates of the Integrated Foreign Studies THM-UZ, and the first one to graduate with honors, awarded by THM to graduates who finish their studies with a sufficiently high final grade. It is worth noting that our student was one of the few graduates receiving honors during the ceremony, and the only one to complete his studies with the highest possible final grade - a grade of 1.0.
It is worth mentioning that the so-called Integrated Foreign Studies are one of the first and most important results of over 25 years of cooperation between the two partner universities, which began with a bilateral agreement on partnership in teaching and research signed in December 1997 by the then Zielona Góra University of Technology and Fachhochschule Giessen – Friedberg – now Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen. This unique form of student education was started in the academic year 1998/99, predating the intentions of the Bologna Process in this field. According to the concept developed at that time, integrated studies are conducted in two languages, partly at the University of Zielona Góra and partly at THM, and end with a thesis supervised simultaneously by mentors from both universities. Graduates of the Integrated Studies receive diplomas from both universities simultaneously. The first graduates completed the Integrated Studies THM-UZ in the academic year 2000/2001. A total of 54 students from the Faculty of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Automation of the University of Zielona Góra took part in the program, including 25 specializing in electrical engineering, 23 in computer science, and 6 in automation and robotics, who studied at THM at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and at the Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Computer Science.
The aforementioned diploma award ceremony coincided with the annual autumn meeting of delegations forming the network "Cooperation of Universities in Central and East Europe" – CUCEE. During the THM-organized meeting on November 17-18, 2023, in addition to the hosts of the meeting and the UZ delegation (Prof. A. Obuchowicz, Dean of WIEA, Prof. R. Rybski, CUCEE coordinator), delegations from the Tallinn University of Technology, Lviv Polytechnic, Gediminas Technical University of Vilnius, and the Silesian University of Technology were present. During the meeting, the network's activities in 2023 were summarized, and plans for activities between 2023 - 2025 were discussed. In addition to typical activities related to student and academic staff exchanges (integrated studies, standard exchanges within the Erasmus+ program), efforts were made to intensify actions to obtain EU funds for research and teaching programs (the first application will be submitted in March 2024 – Erasmus+ program competition), joining the European university initiative (concerning THM and UZ), actions aimed at expanding the CUCEE network to include another university. The delegations also met with the Vice President of THM, Prof. Olaf Berger. During the meeting, among other events, the premiere presentation of the "XX YEARS OF CUCEE" album, released in August of this year on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the CUCEE network, took place. An unusual and touching part of this meeting was the official thank you to the outgoing coordinator and creator of the CUCEE network, Prof. M. Klytci, for his previous activities within the network. Prof. Berger, on behalf of the THM authorities, joined the other participants in expressing gratitude. Since September 2022, Prof. Rafael Greszczynski formally holds the role of CUCEE coordinator.
Photographs: M. Diehl, THM
