The city of Trnava is part of the UNESCO World Network of Learning Cities

On 2 September 2022, the city of Trnava (Slovakia) became the first Slovak learning city to join the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC), following an application submitted by the Lifestarter civic association as part of the Learning Trnava project.

Some 77 new learning cities from 44 countries have been added to the international network. Trnava is the only Slovak city among 294 cities around the world that create a stimulating environment for lifelong learning. Learning cities link educational and cultural institutions and involve important educational stakeholders and general government representatives in the process of creating change in education.

Trnava became a learning city based on the activities of the Learning Trnava project, the concept of which was created by the team of the civic association Lifestarter headed by Executive Manager Mgr. Michal Koricina, PhD., back in 2020. This is the third year that the project has been involved in the development of cooperation, the organisation of educational events and conferences, which bring together a number of different actors interested in the systematic change of education in Slovakia. The team includes not only representatives of the Trnava Department of Education, but also teachers from Trnava universities and directors of various educational and cultural institutions. In the three years of its operation, the Learning Trnava project has managed to create a number of innovative educational activities and one of them is the Learning Trnava festival, the zero year of which took place in 2021. A number of interesting guests were brought to Trnava - for example, Vladimír Šnídl, a journalist who lectured on critical thinking and hoaxes, Samuel Kováčik, a scientist known as Vedátor (Boffin), who prepared a lecture on space and nature, and Daniel Hevier, a writer.

This year the Learning Trnava project also prepared a festival on the pedestrian zone in Trnava. The festival was intended for everyone who wanted to have fun and learn something new. The festival included dozens of educational organisations and their activities for young and old, music and dance performances, as well as evening panel discussions on education or mental and physical well-being. Various tasks and games were prepared for the festival visitors by the Juraj Fándly Library, IPčko, Teach for Slovakia, European Dialogue, EPALE Slovensko and dozens of other organisations, secondary schools and faculties of Trnava universities. The inclusion of Trnava in the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities is a significant milestone that opens up new opportunities for cooperation with education experts from all over the world in Slovakia and in Trnava, thus creating a prerequisite for new inspiring educational projects for all inhabitants of the city.

Lifestarter