Call for Students
Call for students to the BUP’s SAIL Summer conference for students, 4 -18 September 2018, Szczecin, Poland – Visby, Sweden – Stavanger, Norway.
The SAIL (Sustainability Applied in International Learning) summer conference is conducted at sea on-board the tall ship Fryderyk Chopin. The SAIL summer conference is based on the participating teachers’ areas of competences and experiences. This means that each year the SAIL summer conference is different with focus on different thematic areas of sustainability, such as:
- Environment
- Energy
- Climate
- Technology
- Economy
- Social science
- Education, etc.
The SAIL Summer Conference will be prepared and run on board by an international group of teachers.
The SAIL conference 2018 will start on 4th September in Szczecin, Poland, and end on 18th of September in Stavanger, Norway. We will be visiting Visby on Gotland, Sweden, on the way but the Captain, the SAIL coordinator, and the BUP secretariat will decide on the exact sailing route and other harbors to visit. In addition to 8 teachers, we have 30 places available for students on-board.
Student are to apply to their national BUP Centre
Students interested in the topic and coming from our members’ or/and participating’ universities are welcome to apply for participation in the conference. Students from the BUP´s members' universities will, however, be given priority and for them participation in the SAILing conference is free of charge. Please notice that all students applying should have a recommendation from their teacher, BUP’s contact person at the university, or the BUP’s national center.
The national BUP’s centers will be responsible for selecting a final list of participants from the respective countries. Students from Belarus, Sweden, and North-West Russia are kindly asked to send their applications directly to Maria Hejna at the coordinating secretariat. Applying students are asked to save all documents with their names. Please observe that handwritten applications will not be accepted!
The Application Form.
The deadline is on Tuesday, 3rd of April 2018.
Students should as well keep in mind that if they will be selected to participate, they will be asked to have their health statement confirmed by a doctor.
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Some words of information to be consider before applying:
Please keep in mind that the SAIL conference is for undergraduate students.
Please be aware and consider the special nature of the SAIL - you should be aware that sailing a tall ship is physically demanding. Our experience is that you will be physically exhausted, deprived of sleep, and definitively out from your normal comfort zone. You will be living very close to many new people in a very restricted space. We should also mention that you may experience seasickness, which can be a rather unpleasant experience.
On board the sailing vessel all students (and teachers) will act as a working crew. You will be divided into one of three watches that will be assigned 4 hours rotating duties (navigation, deck, and kitchen) - around-the clock! Please keep in mind that in spite of the weather conditions, and in spite of your condition, you should participate in your watch duties. You should also be aware that sailing a tall ship means pulling lines, climbing masts to set and haul sails in the old-day fashion. Fryderyk Chopin is a brigg-rigged tall ship with two 38 m high masts, which need to be climbed! Students and teachers are expected to work together in the watches to fulfil their sailing duties, which in our experience is an excellent tool for team building and to create a dynamic learning environment. Moreover, as crew member you must also do other duties on-board, in addition to your sailing and conference duties. This includes cleaning, cooking meals, washing dishes, and maintenance work. All this you are expected to do in addition to your conference duties that come as a priority number one! To your help there will be 8 professional crew members on board so you can feel safe!
Please keep in mind that you are expected to work hard with all requirements and fulfill all duties on board.
Despite these words of “warnings”, or perhaps because of them, we can promise you extraordinary new experiences filled with feelings of togetherness and teamwork, meeting with new friends, being close to nature, and in the hands of the powerful forces of nature, and exploring places you never been to before. You will be part of a team experiencing a unique conference, and feel the joy of being part of a truly stimulating learning environment with hopefully many enthusiastic students. And not the least: you will explore yourself and push your limits to new levels.
Please keep in mind that the SAIL conference is very popular - each year the number of applying students exceeds by far the number of available places so make sure that your application will impress on us :-)
Important - all students are obliged to fulfill all required steps – including the preparation process and active participation on board.
Students who will fulfil all requirements and pass the conference on board will receive:
- Baltic University Programme diploma
- Special certificate confirming their sailing skills issued by the Captain of the “Fryderyk Chopin”.
and a memory for life, new friends from many countries in the Baltic region, incredible adventure, and hopefully more confidence and self-knowledge.
Costs of participation
The SAILing is free of charge for students coming from the BUP's Members' Universities and for them all costs of accommodation and food on-board will be covered by the Baltic University Programme coordinating secretariat. A conference fee of 1300 Euro per person applies for all other students. All students must however cover all travel costs to and from the boat themselves (travel to Szczecin and back from Stavanger). BUP’s Centers and teachers are kindly asked to advice and help students to find financial support for their travel costs. Please see the updated list of BUP's Members' Universities on the BUP web site.
For those who need visas (multiplied Schengen visa will be needed for this trip): invitations will be issued by the BUP secretariat in Uppsala.
Very IMPORTANT
- application to the SAIL conference is binding – cancellation in the last minute without any important and documented reason will be reported to authorities of student's university and department
- for the sake of security ONLY students with very good communications skills in English will be selected
- Please notice that the previous sailing experience is not necessary and will not give you any priority for the conference. Participants will be selected based on their interest in sustainable development
Students applications should be sent to the BUP centres in every country well in advance (the deadline is on Tuesday, 3rd of April 2018).
Please do not hesitate to contact Maria Hejna in case of any further questions.