Higher Education

Overview

The CBSS works with building Regional Identity through Higher Education, by fostering cooperation of Higher Education Institutions and, utilizing research results, facts and methods of regional policy-making to students in the CBSS Member States.

The citizens of the Baltic Sea Region are among the highest educated in the world. The CBSS believes that education is our best answer to many of the challenges that the region and the world in general is currently facing and invests in educating and empowering future region-builders across different themes and disciplines.

The organization is involved in a multitude of different projects in the field of higher education which aim at enhancing the political education in the Baltic Sea Region as well as further strengthening the cooperation between the member countries.

Mandate

• CBSS Senior Officials: coordinate educational activities during the CBSS Presidency and between Ministerial Conferences.
• The Vilnius II Declaration calls for close collaboration in education, research, and innovation to strengthen the region’s knowledge base and research performance.

Key engagements and initiatives

• CBSS Summer Universities: Academic events fostering student exchanges and cooperation among higher education institutions on regionally relevant topics. Supported over 15 events since 2014, organised as summer, winter or spring schools, and realised in higher education institutions across the region.

• Baltic Sea Region University Network (BSRUN): A platform for cooperation on university governance, established by the University of Turku in 2000.

• Baltic Science Network (BSN): A forum promoting collaboration in science, research, and education among member states initiated in 2015.

• THALIA Project 2020-2022: Focused on enhancing journalism education by addressing trafficking in human beings (THB). Connects students and teachers from Finland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, and Ukraine.

• NEEDS Project: Bridges the gap between societal security education and the skills required in the field.

PSF Projects

• Strengthening Identity for the Baltic Sea Region Borderlands
  Building cooperation for the youth (Lead Partner: University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn)
• Young People Network for Balticness 2.0 (YoPeNET 2.0)
  Enhancing capacity for strategic narratives on identity with young people in the Baltic Sea Region (Lead Partner: University of Gdansk). Involves youth in dialogue and media projects exploring trans-regional and eco-cultural identities. 

Through its higher education initiatives, the CBSS nurtures a shared sense of regional belonging and equips future leaders with the tools to address societal and environmental challenges.

Facts & Figures

• Since 2014, the CBSS has provided support and visibility to 15 summer universities organised by higher education institutions in the Baltic Sea Region