Explore another part of the world whilst studying in Poland

In April I went to Poland and participated in the International Workshop on Strategic Management at Poznan University of Technology. I went into this program with a group of UTS students I had never met before and came out with memories and friends to last a lifetime!

First dinner together with the UTS students

The program taught me how to work in a team with not only people you have never met, but also people from different cultures. One of the favourite things I was taught was how physical and verbal cues can be interpreted differently in other parts of the world, right down to how close people may choose to sit at a bus station to how blunt or forward people may speak. Understanding this helped us work more effectively in teams where everyone’s communication styles were different.

My group for the workshop

The program was fun and gave us plenty of opportunities to explore Poznan in our free time. The local students went out of their way to involve us in fun activities and showed us some of their favourite spots, with my personal favourite being down by the river where people would have mini BBQs going and playing games.

Hanging out at the local park

For future students participating in this workshop, if accommodation is self-organised then I highly recommend you get a big Airbnb like we did so we could all hang out in the same space. It’s like being in a hostel but with much nicer facilities! Our place was about 15/20 minutes away from the Uni, and we would split Ubers to get there which was super cheap (cheaper than scooter or public transport!).

I would highly recommend this program for future UTS students as it is a great way to explore another part of the world whilst studying. Being a weeklong workshop, many of us took the opportunity to arrive earlier or stay longer so we could travel and see other parts of Poland or other European countries.

Jessica Walker
Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
International Workshop on Strategic Management at Poznan University of Technology , Poland