On 3 March, the entrance hall of our university’s main building hosted students, educators, and representatives of the university environment for our second PIONEER Festival. The event was commenced by Jozef Ristvej, UNIZA vice-rector for international relations and marketing, who introduced the PIONEER Alliance. The morning session covered information on scholarship opportunities, including the scholarship programme of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), scholarships from the Taipei Representative Office in Bratislava or from the French government. The SAIA, n.o. programmes, the National Scholarship Programme, CEEPUS, and the EURAXESS initiative were also presented. The Centre for Technology Transfer and UNIZA Technology Incubator were showcased as well, demonstrating to students that their research or business ideas can have an international reach. A highlight of the programme was ERASMUS+ Talks. Here, students who had already completed a study abroad programme spoke about the challenges, cultural differences, and benefits of mobility. The festival concluded with a presentation of European Student Network (ESN) initiatives, including the ESN Adventure Train concept.

Author: Adriana Valentovičová, UNIZA