Higher Education

Overview

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.

Mandates

• Vilnius II Declaration: […] Close cooperation in education, science, research and innovation, and the exchange of Ideas and experiences ensure a wide dissemination of knowledge and effective utilization of research infrastructure, leveraging the Region’s research and innovation performance. […]

Projects

• CBSS Summer Universities: The CBSS Summer Universities take place annually and aim at strengthening academic networks and student exchange in the region. The CBSS is the link between various Higher Education Institutions in the region that cooperate on the most relevant topics for the region.

• Baltic Sea Region University Network (BSRUN): The Baltic Sea Region University Network (BSRUN) is a network for university governance, management, and administration. It was established in 2000 on the initiative of the University of Turku in order to enhance cooperation of Higher Education Institutions in the Baltic Sea region.

• Baltic Science Network (BSN): The Baltic Science Network (BSN) is a forum for higher education, science and research cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region.

• Batic Sea Youth Dialogue (BSYD): The Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue brings together young Europeans, who are interested in the history of Baltic Sea cooperation, to know each other’s cultures and explore their shared identity.

• THALIA Project 2020-2022: The THALIA Project seeks to raise awareness as well as foster exchange of experiences and modus between students and teachers of journalism from universities in Finland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden and Ukraine and engage students in the topic of THB. The project takes a proactive approach by identifying future journalists and teachers of journalism as a target group with project activities designed to intertwine knowledge and exchange on the national level with a macro-regional level.

• NEEDS Project: The NEEDS project brings together Higher Education Institutions and practitioner organizations, working with societal security, in the Baltic Sea Region to address the skills gap and mismatch between the societal security education and the knowledge needs in the field.

PSF Projects

• Strengthening the identity of the Baltic Sea Region borderlands. Building cooperation for the youth (Lead Partner: University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn):

The long-term goal of the project is the participation of young people in shaping and preserving their regional identity. This is achieved by, among other things, diagnosing and implementing effective forms and methods for the inclusion of young people from various countries in the Baltic Sea Region in active public life. Increasing civic participation of young people is seen as part of building the Baltic Sea Region identity.

• Young People Network for Balticness 2.0. Enhancing capacity for strategic narratives on identity with young people in the Baltic Sea Region (Lead Partner: University of Gdansk)

The YoPeNET 2.0 project is intended to be a significant step in establishing a “sustainable network” in the BSR, with reliable institutions, experienced teachers and cooperating partners. It aims at involving the younger generation in the BSR in educational dialogue and in the co-creation of cultural texts and media projects concerning trans-regional identity, manifested for instance as ecocultural identity.

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