In November 2020, the Department of Political Science and International Relations, the Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences, launched the project «EU Eastern Partnership Initiative: Opportunities for Ukraine» under the the EU Erasmus+ programme – Jean Monnet. Last semester, 214 second-year students majoring in International Relations took the course EU Eastern Partnership Initiative: Opportunities for Ukraine. This is a new interactive interdisciplinary course aimed at studying the principles of EU foreign policy and its significance for the eastern neighbours, in particular, the resource potential of the Eastern Partnership for Ukraine’s European integration course.
Meetings with well-known Ukrainian and foreign practitioners, experts on EU Eastern policy, as well as lectures by leading speakers were especially interesting and useful for students:
- Simon Pidou, Distinguished Swiss Diplomat, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine (lectured on The Swiss-Ukrainian bilateral relations),
- Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze, Chairman of the Committee on Ukraine’s Integration with the EU, Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the VIII-IX Convocations (lectured on The European Integration of Ukraine: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects),
- Mykhailo Honchar, Ukrainian scientist, expert on international energy and security relations, President of the Center for Global Studies «Strategy of the XXI Century» (lectured on The energy and energy infrastructure as a tool for Russia’s influence on the EU, NATO and the Eastern Partnership),
- Madeleine Moon, British politician, Member of the British Parliament (2005–2019), President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (2018–2019), (lectured on The Eastern Partnership countries in the European Security Area).
The VI Ukrainian-Polish Scientific Forum «Eastern Policy of the European Union: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects» was organized and held within the project (May 27–28, 2021).
On September 13, 2021, the project team together with the students – graduates of the course – held the Erasmus Party, where they discussed the interim results of the project, student achievements, and awarded the most active students of the course. Project manager, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Yaryna Turchyn, Director of the Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences, read out the greetings to the event participants from Svitlana Shytikova, coordinator of the National Erasmus+ project in Ukraine. Mz. Shytikova highly appreciated the work of the EU Eastern Partnership Initiative: Opportunities for Ukraine project, in particular, noted student videos on the success of the Eastern Partnership in Ukraine, as well as various project activities: webinars, media library, quizzes, and student competition for the best video «The success story of the Eastern Partnership».
The results of the student survey showed that students positively assessed the training course «EU Initiative Eastern Partnership: Opportunities for Ukraine», they received the competencies that are important for their future profession, learned to work in a team, and had the opportunity to attend experts’ lectures. The students highly appreciated the work of the course teachers – Professor Yaryna Turchyn, Professor Oksana Yurynets, Associate Professor Olha Ivasechko, Associate Professor Oleh Tsebenko and Senior Lecturer Dominika Roslon.
The project lasts until 2023. In the future there are many other interesting events for students, meetings, lectures, competitions, and webinars.
