IROs Forum (the Forum of International Relations Offices of Polish public universities) was established by the Polish universities whose multidimensional international relations have been particularly successful.
The IROs Forum originator is Ms Barbara Centkowska (MA), Director of International Relations at the Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in Katowice.
The Rectors of the founding institutions recognize the need for developing new forms of international activities through experience sharing and consolidation of the partner institutions' activities leading to active participation and improving the effectiveness and scope of international cooperation, mainly by means of:
- developing academic exchange as a method of extending universities' partnership in research, education, project development and institutional governance;
- creating a common strategy and improving the techniques for obtaining domestic and foreign funding;
- promoting examples of foreign universities' good practice in international relations;
- improving the necessary skills for meeting new challenges in the process of university internationalization.
Partner universities:
- Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in Katowice
- Medical University of Gdańsk
- University of Bielsko-Biała
- The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
- Gdańsk University of Technology
- The Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice
- Warsaw School of Economics
- Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
- Jagiellonian University in Cracow
- University of Warsaw
- University of Wrocław
- Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
IROs Forum operates collegially, with a Council composed of the heads of the International Relations offices at the partner institutions. The Chair of the Council is elected annually; this year this function is performed by Ms Hanna Lamers (MA), Head of the International Relations Office at the University of Bielsko-Biała.
The latest initiative was the 1st Workshops of the IROs Forum, which took place on 14 and 15 November 2008 in Bielsko-Biała.
Nearest plans comprise the arrangement of internships in the USA and organization of a Polish-Norwegian conference at the Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in Katowice in June 2009. The conference will be organized within the STF project "International Education: Polish-Norwegian Paths".
Joining the IROs Forum involves a declaration of membership and a favourable resolution by the statutory authorities.
You are kindly invited to participate in the IROs Forum activities.
