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Sustainable development of universities, their quality, as well as sports and artificial intelligence - those were the main topics of the meeting of academic student senators at the University of West Bohemia. "It's absolutely great that events like this are taking place because universities have three basic roles - education, research activities, and contribution to the community. Students are absolutely crucial for each of them. That we have a predetermined number of student senators in academic senates by law is clear. But it is always necessary to find people who are dedicated to it and who sacrifice something, and that's you. So welcome to Pilsen," said UWB's Rector Miroslav Lávička in his opening address to those present.

One of the guests of the first debate entitled "Quality Assurance System" was also the chairman of the National Accreditation Bureau (NAB), Robert Plaga. He mentioned preparations for an amendment to the Higher Education Act. "It is appropriate to strengthen the evaluation of universities and colleges. It will involve multi-day inspections, and students will also be part of the commission," Plaga said in his address to the student senators. "We would also like the amendment to the Higher Education Act to transition to standards that are common in Europe. The goal is the independence of the authority. Currently, we depend on the money given to us by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. The same goes for the nomination to the office," he added.

There was also time for meeting on the level of the European university alliance EUPeace. One of the guests of the panel discussion was a student and representative of the Academic Council of the University of Limoges in France, Clément Desaphy. The University of Limoges is, together with the University of West Bohemia, a member of the mentioned alliance, the goal of which is long-term cooperation in the field of education and research. One of the working groups within the alliance is also organized by students of all nine member universities.

The main goal of these annual conferences is to broaden the participants' erudition, support the sharing of best practices, and facilitate networking among representatives of various institutions. Thanks to the multidisciplinary representation in diverse panels, it enables a diverse discussion on the given topics and presents interesting perspectives on solutions to selected issues.

In the afternoon session, Rector Miroslav Lávička and Regional Governor Rudolf Špoták of the Pilsen Region agreed that a common problem in the West Bohemian region is the low interest in technical fields. "It is the task of the region and the university to collaborate on offering study programmes that will connect to job opportunities and the needs of employers and will be sufficiently attractive for current generations of high school students," said Governor Rudolf Špoták to student representatives. According to him, every university graduate when searching for a job must ask themselves the question - why do I want to work here?

Senators from UWB then led their colleagues through the campus buildings and introduced them to some significant projects that the university can be proud of.

The Conference of Academic Senators was made possible by the funding of the Grant Support for Student Activities, with the assistance of the Student Chamber of the Council of Higher Education Institutions and the leadership of UWB.