The MP from the “Ukrainian Patriots Association – UKROP” Iryna Konstankevych considers that Ukrainian higher education institutions should actively develop cross-border cooperation with European universities. The lawmaker said it after her working visit to Germany and to the European University Viadrina, in Frankfurt (Oder), on the German-Polish border.
In 1998 University Viadrina in cooperation with Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań founded the Collegium Polonicum for the students from two countries, who were crossing the border post on the bridge over the Oder every day. According to Iryna Konstankevych, this institution has become a catalyst for elimination of borders between Poland and the EU.
“Here it is hard to escape a parallel with the Ukrainian-Polish universities within cross-border projects in Volyn and Lviv regions. It is important not only to give the opportunity to our students to study abroad, but to ensure a reverse process. This is a project to be developed in the German-Ukrainian summer schools, studios here in Ukraine, which naturally appears as a continuation of our German colleagues’ practice,” considers Iryna Konstankevych.
In general, according to the MP, in the European University Viadrina she felt like being in Ukraine. This is to due to the fact that many of our students are studying at the university (the second largest number after the Poles), and the President of the institution is Professor Alexander Wöll, the head of the Union of Ukrainian Studies in Germany, organizer of numerous projects and expert in Ukrainian literature and culture.
This institution is one of three Ukrainian branches in Germany (from 2014 our country is regarded as a concept of academic, scientific and interdisciplinary studies) that has been supporting scientific debate on Ukraine for several years. In particular, in 2016 there was initiated a project Ukraine Calling, which supports cross-sectoral projects and ideas, which should lead to long-term unions of various organizations in Ukraine and focus on the interested audience covering such diverse areas as civil society, culture, media, politics, management and economy.
Last year 15 organizations and associations from different countries participated in it, all of them focus on Ukrainian studies (ethnic and religious minorities, Ukraine-Russia relations, contemporary art and theater, youth, history, education, Ukraine’s economy etc.). In addition, the university has Fast Trac program for the students from the former Soviet Union, which adapts our education system to the German one. This program is financed by local authorities. “This is an effective example of how the authorities work for the universities with the understanding that education is a locomotive not only of cultural, social and spiritual life, but also of the state’s economy,” said Iryna Konstankevych.
European University Viadrina is a Polish-German university that was re-established in 1991. Its name comes from Latin and means “located at the Oder”. The university has study programs in law, economics and cultural studies.
