In August, another international summer school funded by the Erasmus+ programme, which supports cooperation between European universities, took place. This time, students from the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague met in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, with their peers from Poznan University of Life Sciences (Poland), the Agricultural University of Georgia (Georgia), and the University of Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
The main topic of the summer school was commodity value chains, specifically the malting barley value chain. In addition to the academic programme, students had the opportunity to learn about the culture of the host country, establish new international friendships, and develop their intercultural competences.
The opening ceremony was attended, among others, by Josef Zrzavecký, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In his speech, he emphasised the importance of cooperation between universities not only at the international level, but also within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During the two-week programme, students worked in international teams and completed a range of specialist tasks. These focused, for example, on the analysis of production trends, price transmission, consumer preferences, conducting research interviews, negotiation skills, sensory analysis, and economic calculations related to production. The teams competed throughout the programme, and the best team was awarded at the end.
The programme also included informal activities that enabled participants to discover the local environment and culture. They went rafting on the Vrbas River, visited natural attractions in the surrounding area, and tasted traditional Bosnian cuisine.
We are very pleased that during this summer we were able to organise two summer schools as part of the TeachAVC, project, providing students with new professional knowledge and valuable international experience.
