We are pleased to share with the EPALE community a successful study visit in Slovakia on 19-20 April 2023. 

The fact that the EPALE platform creates stories and partnerships with the adult learning community across Europe was something we experienced over the past two days with colleagues from 10 partner NSSs in two Slovak cities, Bratislava and Trnava.

On the first day, 19 April 2023, of the study visit, we had the opportunity to interact with examples of good practices from 10 European countries. We found that colleagues from the NSS EPALE teams in these countries: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, and North Macedonia are very powerful in their activities on a national level, and we can learn a lot from them. Moreover, these countries are also strong partners at the international level, and it is a pleasure to work with them.

We are proud that in cooperation with the civic association Lifestarster, we have been able to experience the atmosphere of the first Slovak learning city in the Global Network of Learning Cities UNESCO. In addition to being the first city in Slovakia to get the title of a Learning City, Trnava also holds the title of the first free royal city dating back to 1238 and continues to play an essential role in the history of modern Slovakia.

On the second day, 20 April 2023, we visited Trnava city to learn about the concept and activities of the first Slovak learning city in the Global Network UNESCO. Trnava is one of Slovakia's most important towns, situated in the centre of the Trnava Hills, about 50 km from Bratislava.

The team of the civic association Lifestarter, which in cooperation with the City of Trnava, is the umbrella of Lifelong Learning in Trnava, prepared a full-day program.

Their journey around Trnava started at the Lifestarster Community Learning Centre, where participants learned more about the main activities and plans of Learning Trnava directly from central team members. Afterward, our steps led them to the Town Hall Trnava, where we have welcomed by Vice-Mayor Eva Nemčovská, who is in charge of educational activities in Trnava. The visitors were mainly interested in adult education, but we didn't bypass the education topics and funding of activities of non-profit organizations in the city.

"The potential of Learning Trnava lies mainly in connecting educational organisations and creating a system that facilitates the cooperation of all actors in the field of education and training in the city," said Vice-Mayor Nemčovská during the meeting.

The study visit continued with lunch and a professionally guided tour of the historic city centre. After that, the program continued in the famous Juraj Fándly Library. The Library of Juraj Fándly in Trnava is the most significant public library in the Trnava region. It is seated in Slovakia's oldest free royal city - in Trnava. It provides its visitors with lending services, mediates borrowing of documents from other libraries, lends audiobooks to the visually impaired and blind people, provides information on the region of Trnava, its history, and life, and offers public internet. During the visit, we learned more about the history of adult education in the Trnava region and had a short tour of the library's various departments.

The next step was to visit the University of Trnava, the oldest University in Slovakia. With a population of around 65,000, there are almost 15,000 students, confirming that Trnava was historically the first significant educational centre in modern-day Slovakia. During the visit to Trnava University, we experienced the activities of two departments in the field of adult education - the projects of the Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Trnava and the study programs of the University of the Third Age. The University offers senior citizens opportunities to satisfy their desire to supplement their knowledge in various fields of science, quality use of leisure time, positive social engagement, and maintaining mental and physical balance, all of which contribute to the return of a sense of a fully lived life.

Finally, we visited the Campus Courtyard premises, where colleagues learned about this scholarship program for university students.

The feedback of the visit to Trnava from the participants was very positive, with several expressing interest in future cooperation with Learning Trnava.

More information about the Learning Trnava project, in which Trnava has become a member of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities, can be found in this article.

Authors: NSS EPALE Slovakia team in cooperation with civic association Lifestarster.