Children’s university - a way to convince children to study science and technologies / Uniwersytet dziecięcy - droga przekonywania dzieci do studiowania nauk ścisłych i technologii

Technical University of Liberec implemented programs to attract pupils, high school students and first-year university students for study of technical and scientific disciplines. The first program is called “Children’s university” with the aim to convince elementary school pupils and secondary schools student. Children attend practical lectures and solve basic scientific tasks including work with real scientific equipment. They got exams for their activities and when passing all prescribed “lectures” they got a “diploma”. In addition to university examinations the Children’s University offers many different leisure activities, eg Open University, Walk for science and technology, Scientific cafes, Saturdays with technology. The main objective of the Children’s University is to catch talented individuals early and awaken their interest in university studies of technical and scientific disciplines in order to better direct their future professional orientation towards sectors with high added value, which the labour market has a long-term interest in. The second program, entitled “Scientific incubator”, is a follow-up programme to catch talented first-years university students for technical and scientific disciplines.