Matej Bel University is a public university and a member of the European University Association. It is the leading university in Central Slovakia with an important international outreach. It consists of 6 faculties, has 450 staff members and almost 7,000 students. It offers a classic range of university education opportunities at all three levels and forms of studies in the areas of education, social science, economy, law, political science and international relations, humanities and natural sciences. It provides Anglophonic and partially Francophonic studies.
UMB develops joint study programmes and other cooperations with major foreign universities, where the students have the opportunity to complete part of their studies. Therefore, UMB graduates are efficient in finding their place in the labour market not only at home but also abroad.
Alongside with educational activities, a significant part of creative MBU activities is represented by basic and applied research in cooperation with national and international institutions. The University is a centre of research excellence and scientific and development projects are funded by means of European Structural Funds. Furthermore, it implements lifelong learning in a variety of courses and forms of the MBU Children's University and the MBU University of the Third Age. It provides students with sufficient opportunities for a variety of social activities through a wide range of sport clubs, artistic ensembles and student organisations operating at UMB.
The University seeks constantly to offer innovations, such as personalized student and staff support schemes, new mentoring programmes, peer (tandem) learning, methods supporting learners’ autonomy, recognition of informal learning outcomes etc. UMB is an active actor in local an regional community life, giving an important institutional support to the implementation of service-learning and challenge-based learning strategies.
Matej Bel University (UMB) is a public university located in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. With a strong emphasis on internationalisation, UMB develops joint study programs, collaborates with foreign universities, and actively participates in EU programs.
Katarína Chovancová
Katarína Chovancová holds an MA in methodology of teaching foreign languages and currently works as professor of general linguistics at the Faculty of Arts of Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica. Her research focuses on the study of communication events, discourse analysis and linguistic pragmatics. She is the author of several books, book chapters and research papers. She has been involved in 19 research projects, several of them focused on corpus-based speech research, compared grammar and contextualisation of pedagogical discourse. At UMB, she has also helped implement the project of the University Support and Guidance Centre, managed activities aimed at the inclusion of migrants and expats, and participated in the institutional implementation of service-learning strategy. She is interested in developing links between linguistic and social science research and in the problems of internationalisation of higher education.
Lenka Theodoulides
Lenka Theodoulides is teaching and researching topics related to strategic and international management and leadership at Matej Bel University. She has been doing training and consulting in interpersonal skills mainly focused on communication, leading teams and change management for companies in the production and service industries. She has also lead two research projects focused on critical thinking skills and competences which resulted in multiple publications and training courses. She is author and co-author of several articles, books and book chapters focusing on leadership, managing innovations and processes of assessment based upon critical thinking and feedback. Since 2018 she has been focusing on developing critical thinking skills among students and teachers at higher education institution. The result of this endeavour are summarized in two publications and a training course. Within the course of International management and business development she has been working on
Natália Kubašová
Natália Kubašová is a PhD student in the field of methodology of teaching foreign languages. She is preparing a doctoral thesis focusing on the current issues related to e-testing and e-assesment under the direction of Katarína Chovancová. Natália is an experienced teacher who has gathered a perfect knowledge of primary and secondary school teaching practice. She also works as a freelance lecturer and translator-interpreter. Her theoretical knowledge and practical work experience make her sensitive to currents didactic trends and innovations. She is the author of several research papers presented at conferences. Natália is responsible of giving practical support and guidance to UMB VSC teams on PR2.
Tomáš Beňuška
Tomaš Beňuška is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations at the Department of Security Studies. In the past, he worked on a research project profiling islamic fundamentalists in the European Union member-states by analysing the so-called crime-terror nexus phenomenon, which led him to understand better the nuances of international migration and environments cultivating radicalism and extremism. He still maintains his work focus on international migration, acculturation and integration, radicalism and extremism in order to contribute to better societal security situation, but he also works in the field of tackling hybrid warfare and disinformation and leads lectures on high schools and elementary schools teaching students how to differentiate between true and fake content On the TRIP project, he is responsible for the social media strategy and PR2 – Race.