National Tempus / Erasmus+
Office in Ukraine

Tempus Information Day for Eastern Ukraine universities was held in Donetsk, on December 9, 2009. This seminar was organized jointly by the National Tempus Office in Ukraine (NTO) and Donetsk National University, with support of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, Ministry of Education and Science, Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine and Rectors’ Council for Donetsk Region. A day earlier, in December 8, Donetsk National University hosted the Rectors’ Council Assembly – the gathering of rectors of higher education institutions operating in Donetsk Region – where Svitlana Shytikova, NTO Director made a presentation “Bologna process after Leuven”.

The event opened with greetings by Volodymyr Shevchenko, Donetsk National University Rector and Chair of the Rectors’ Council for Donetsk Region. In his address he urged the participants to discuss and further explore the opportunities offered by EU educational programs, like Tempus, Erasmus Mundus and Jean Monnet, for the modernization of higher education in Ukraine.

As European educational programs mainly focus on higher education modernization in accordance with Bologna process, a special session of the Tempus Information Day was dedicated to Bologna process, its development after Leuven and its major achievements in Ukraine. The session was conducted by Myhaylo Stepko, professor, Associate Academician of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, First Deputy Director of the Higher Education Institute with the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine and member of Higher Education Reform Experts Team – the initiative of the European Commission intended to accelerate higher education reforms.

The results of the Tempus IV second call, priorities, innovations, selection criteria, as well as recommendations on preparation of project proposals were presented by Svitlana Shytikova, NTO Director and Olena Orzhel, NTO Coordinator. After presentations, they answered numerous questions of seminar participants.

Later, the floor was given to Alfredo Moscardini, a partner and friend of Donetsk National University for many years. Professor Moscardini, who is a European Commission expert, Chair of the Society of Systems Dynamics and Cybernetics, University of Sunderland professor, honourable professor of Donetsk National University and Kharkiv V. Karazin National University shared with seminar participants his views and ideas on sustainable partnerships and current challenges faced by Tempus program participants.

Daur Zukhba, Deputy Director of the Education-and-Research Institute “Higher School of Economics and Management” with Donetsk National Technical University, summarized the School’s experience in drafting and implementing Tempus projects.

During the seminar, special sessions were dedicated to two other educational programs: Erasmus Mundus and Jean Monnet. In addition to general overview on the above programs by NTO staff, the valuable personal experience in preparation and implementation of Jean Monnet projects was presented by Iryna Sikorska, Head of International Relations Department with Donetsk State University of Management.

All in all, about seventy delegates from thirty higher education institutions of Eastern Ukraine took part in the event.

The event was by highlighted by local media: Donetsk Regional TV Company, “News Program” (19:00 p.m. on 9.12.2009) and local media.