A new and extremely important point on the map of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University campus in Lublin has been established. The University Welcome Centre, located in the Main Library, officially opened its doors to the public and academic community on 12 May. Projects implemented by the Welcome Center UMCS are funded by the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) within the Welcome to Poland programme.
The UMCS Welcome Center is a place of first contact for foreign students who get admitted to our University. The main tasks carried out within the unit include: creating an information point for foreign students, providing them with assistance and mentorship, organizing integration and educational events, as well as supporting internationalization at the university. The Welcome Center team includes: Dr. Ewelina Panas - Rector's Plenipotentiary for Internationalization of Education, mgr Robert Ainebyona and lic. Maciej Cieciora.
During the opening ceremony, the Rector of UMCS stressed that, “ the now open welcome centre is an extremely important place on the UMCS campus, and is part of the university's operational strategy: For many years, UMCS has focused on internationalisation- therefore, the center is absolutely crucial to the functioning of a modern university such as UMCS, which aspires to position itself as highly competitiveness in the world of research, science and teaching at the level of higher education. The Welcome Centre for many modern European universities is a standard and from now on, it will be a formal standard also at UMCS. (...) The new centre will serve both to welcome students and to introduce them to academic life. (…) Often students from distant countries and other cultures the first contact at the University is extremely important and impacts on their perception of the future. Furthermore, Prof. Dobrowolski, referring to the functioning of the unit, the centre will have an important impact on the international sphere of our university, he added: The Welcome Center was created, on the one hand, to take care of students from abroad even before they come to the university, to assist them find their way to our city, and also to maintain constant contact with them after graduation, to follow their fate and, if possible, to cooperate, so that foreign graduates become ambassadors of our university in the world. The Rector thanked all the people who were involved in the process of creating this unit and are continually involved in the internationalization of the university. Finally, he reiterated that as many as 10% of UMCS students are people from abroad, coming from over 40 countries around the world.
Ms. Grażyna Elżbieta Fiok, the chancellor of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, also addressed the audience: she remarked, "I am delighted that we are handing over another investment, this time a smaller one, albeit a very important one from the point of view of the university's functioning and one which is dedicated to students coming from abroad. I hope that this facility will meet all expectations." The Chancellor also invited young people to visit the university's other facilities with special co-working zones dedicated to students.
On behalf of the Mayor of Lublin, Dr Mariusz Sagan, director of the city's Department of Strategy and Enterprise thanked and congratulated the university authorities. He added that the Welcome Center is also an excellent implementation tool fitting into the City's strategy – He remarked that, for years the city has been focused on internationalization, attracting as many foreign students as possible, and also developing friendly ecosystem for young people from abroad. Dr Sagan noted that Rector Dobrowolski was the initiator of the Research in Lublin programme, which aims to invite to Lublin not only students from all over the world, but also scientists. To this day, this environmental programme functions, only under a slightly different name - Visiting Professors in Lublin.
During the ceremony certificates of recognition for outstanding foreign students were presented. The ceremony was also honoured by the captivating performances of student bands: The UMCS butterflies and the Helping Hand, whose members come from across diverse countries such as; Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Eswatini and Rwanda made sure the afternoon ended on a high note.
Projects carried out by the UMCS Welcome Centre are financed by the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA).
Photo: Bartosz Proll
