On 27 February, a meeting between the Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines Leah M. Basinang-Ruiz and JU Rector Prof. Jacek Popiel was held in the JU Collegium Novum. The meeting was also attended by the cultural attaché of the Philippine Embassy, Chloe O. Silverio, and the JU Vice-Rector for International Relations, Prof. Dorota Malec.
Prof. Dorota Malec pointed out that there are currently several students from the Philippines studying at the Jagiellonian University – most of them enrolled into programmes that are usually very popular among foreigners (those offered by the Faculty of Law and Administration and JU Medical College), but one of them made a less obvious choice – he became involved with the Faculty of Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian University. Referring to the latter, Prof. Jacek Popiel expressed his belief that the student in question could potentially become the first ‘ambassador’ of Polish Studies in his homeland – an area which has been developing with great intensity in many other Asian countries for a long time.
Ambassador Leah M. Basinang-Ruiz emphasised that the Philippines seeks to intensify its cooperation with the Polish side, making efforts to constantly strengthen it not only economically and militarily, but also with respect to culture and science, which is why she has been traveling around throughout Poland in order to bolster Polish-Philippine diplomatic relations. She also noted that exchange programmes for students and researchers support the creative exchange of ideas – they encourage, among other things, to look at already known problems from a different perspective.
The Ambassador also pointed out that, in her opinion, the task of those in power, but also of academics, is not only to respond to more or less distant threats (by implementing solutions regarding sustainable development or searching for ways to combat climate change), but also to predict and counteract potentially detrimental issues that are as of yet poorly understood. Science undoubtedly plays a key role in this area.
The next part of the visit was the Ambassador's meeting with students of Filipino origin studying at the Jagiellonian University, which took place in the Senate Room. It was attended by students from the Medical School for Foreigners, the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Faculty of Law and Administration, the Faculty of Polish Studies and the Center for International and Studies and Development . After that, the guests from the Embassy went on a short visit to the JU Museum Collegium Maius, during which they were accompanied by Dr hab. Franciszek Czech from the JU Faculty of International and Political Studies.
