Vatra Dornei, December 8–13, 2025
From December 8th to December 13th 2025, the FLOURISH Winter School took place in Vatra Dornei, at the headquarters of the USV Center for Professional Development and Continuing Education. The event was organized as part of the FLOURISH: Joint Master in Resilience in
Educational Contexts program, bringing together students and teachers from 18 countries and four continents. The event was a profound academic and human experience, built around the values of humanity, cooperation, teamwork, gratitude, love of learning, and the joy of being together.
Throughout the week, participants were involved in interactive workshops dedicated to inclusive education, intercultural competence, and building resilience through the development of emotional competence through art, supported by specialists from the academic and pre- university environment. The working atmosphere was characterized by openness, mutual support, and genuine collaboration, in which cultural diversity became a valuable resource for learning and shared reflection.
A special moment of the Winter School was the visits to schools in rural areas (Panaci and Neagra Șarului), where students interacted directly with teachers, principals, and students, discovering local educational realities and good practices of inclusion and resilience. These experiences strengthened the link between theory and practice and cultivated respect, empathy, and gratitude towards the educational communities visited.
The program was complemented by outdoor activities, exploration of mountain nature, informal moments of reflection and connection, as well as experiencing the cultural traditions of Bucovina through visits to UNESCO heritage sites, museums, and experiencing traditional Romanian and Bucovinian cuisine. These moments brought the joy of learning through experience, strengthening the sense of belonging and connection among participants.
The FLOURISH Winter School was more than an academic event; it was the joy of being together and of building an international community united by common values. The students left Vatra Dornei with new professional perspectives, strong human connections, and renewed motivation to contribute to the development of more resilient, inclusive, and well-being-oriented educational systems. The FLOURISH – Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s program thus continues to create transformative learning contexts, where education, emotion, culture, and community come together to support the personal and professional development of future specialists in education and psychology.
The FLOURISH program is a master’s degree program developed jointly by the “Ștefan cel Mare” University of Suceava together with the University of Malta, the University of Crete, and the University of Lisbon, and is funded by the European Commission through the ERASMUS MUNDUS program. The program is coordinated by the University of Malta and will run from 2022 to 2028.
