The Rector of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Prof. Daniel Pella, MD, PhD, together with Vice-Rector Assoc. Prof. Silvia Ručinská, PhD, and Vice-Rector Dr.h.c. Prof. Pavol Jarčuška, MD, PhD, participated in the international Aurora Annual Conference 2026 held from 18 to 21 May 2026. This year’s conference was hosted by the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.
This year’s conference marked the 10th anniversary of the Aurora Alliance, which brings together universities from across Europe and creates a shared space for educational activities, research projects, student and staff mobility, as well as the development of innovative approaches in higher education. The conference programme included plenary sessions, expert workshops, thematic panels, and strategic meetings of individual Aurora working groups. Each year, the conference also dedicates space to student representatives. In this section, UPJŠ was represented by Simona Gibalová, who currently serves as President of the Aurora Student Council.
The main themes of the event included public trust in science and the role of educational institutions in contemporary society, innovative entrepreneurship, Open Science, and Citizen Science. Discussions also focused on opportunities for the internationalisation of education through BIP programmes, the COIL teaching method, and the LOUIS educational approach. New opportunities for international cooperation in education, research, and innovation were also among the important topics addressed.
The participation of the university leadership in the Aurora Annual Conference 2026 confirms the university’s active involvement in international partnerships and the commitment of UPJŠ to contributing to the shaping of a modern European higher education area. The conference brought new impulses for the development of joint projects, the strengthening of academic partnerships, and the further deepening of cooperation within the Aurora Alliance. Active engagement in the alliance is in line with the Internationalisation Strategy of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice for the 2023 –2027 period.
