Break Out of the Bubble! An Active Break at the 2nd Sapientia Summer University of Social Sciences - Research – Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania

Can a summer break combine holidays and learning, relaxation and engagement? The participants of the 2nd Sapientia Summer School of Social Sciences proved that it can: for three days, they reflected, played and talked, both inside and beyond the bubble.

This was the second edition of the thematic summer university jointly organised by the social science departments of Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania. Last year, the event was hosted by the Department of Applied Social Sciences in Târgu Mureș, where the lectures and activities focused on preparing students for entering the labour market.

This year, the baton was passed to the Department of Social Sciences at the Faculty of Economics, Socio-Human Sciences and Engineering in Miercurea Ciuc. The 21 students and eight lecturers worked together around a highly topical contrast: isolated life within digital bubbles and active participation in the community. The summer university explored how these bubbles could be burst—or at least made more permeable—in favour of genuine community presence.

The summer university also provided an opportunity to present interim findings from a youth study supported by the Institute of Research Programmes of the Sapientia Foundation.

At the event entitled Life in a Bubble: A Professional Workshop in the Light of Youth Research, co-organised by the Kolozsvár Academic Committee (KAB), the Romanian regional committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, research leader Dr. SÓLYOM Andrea, Dr. BÁLINT Gyöngyvér and Dr. GERGELY Orsolya presented the preliminary analyses of the study Maturandus: A Snapshot of 18-Year-Olds in Szeklerland. What plans do young people in Szeklerland have for the future? How do they relate to diversity and to people who are different from them? How do they spend their free time? What do they use artificial intelligence applications for? Detailed answers will be presented at the Maturandus Conference on 8 October.

The 21 students arrived on 13 July from Sapientia’s Cluj-Napoca, Târgu Mureș and Miercurea Ciuc campuses, as well as from the University of Tokaj (Hungary).

The participants also got to know one another away from their screens: in the evening, we watched a documentary at the Planetarium, after which the first bubbles began to dissolve over pizza at the Mafinom+ restaurant.

The following morning, two thematic sessions awaited the participants: a presentation of the Maturandus research project and Dr. FERENCZ Angéla’s lecture entitled Bubbles of Culture, followed by a discussion. In the afternoon, Dr. VARGA Szilvia’s presentation and workshop explored young people’s participation in the community, with the students taking an active role.

On 15 July, artificial intelligence, netiquette and play took centre stage. In the morning, Dr. TŐKÉS Gyöngyvér gave a lecture and led a discussion on how artificial intelligence could be used more intelligently, after which Dr. BAKÓ Rozália drew attention to the ethical issues associated with the digital environment.

The afternoon programme featured an engaging educational game led by Debrecen-based researcher Dr. ENTERSZNÉ KOCSIS Zsófia.

We brought a successful event to a close—one where ideas and emotions met, and from which, instead of life in a bubble, we could take home the experience of genuine community presence. We will continue next year!