Report by Prof. Dr. Anna Hayduk, International Business-Eastern Europe, International Affairs Principal, Faculty of International Business, Heilbronn University, Germany;
Founding member of the German-Ukrainian Academic Society
In November this year the Agreement on cooperation between the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (SNUK) and Heilbronn University (HU), Germany, was signed in Kyiv. The event takes its roots from the forum “German-Ukrainian dialogue: Prospects for Education and Research” held in Berlin in July this year, which was organized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany. This Agreement envisages cooperation in areas of student and faculty exchange, as well as joint research projects. For HU, its Faculty of International Business in particular, this agreement is very important. One of the five undergraduate programmes of the Faculty, namely “International Business-Eastern Europe”, is aimed at training managers with a wide range of competencies in economics, business, intercultural communication and foreign languages, who are able to work in international business environment in general, and with a focus on Eastern European markets in particular. The Programme’s regional specialisation offers an excellent basis for capacity building in Eastern European countries, particularly in Ukraine. Thanks to this cooperation, students from Germany will now have an opportunity to spend an exchange semester at one of the most well-known Ukrainian universities – SNUK, namely at its Institute of International Relations. The broad range of its B.Sc. and M.Sc. Programmes offered both in Ukrainian and English ensures excellent opportunities for such exchange. Already in the winter semester 2016/2017 four German students will spend their exchange semester in Kyiv. The first Ukrainian exchange-students will be admitted by HU in spring 2017. Moreover, new ideas and concrete steps for collaboration in the area of Sustainable Tourism Development were also discussed, with the aim of involving further partners from the SNUK’s Faculty of Geography and HU study programmes in “Tourism Management” (B.Sc.) and “International Tourism Management” (M.Sc.). The Faculty of International Business (HU) is now developing an application for the inclusion of SNUK in the ERASMUS+ programme, which, if successful, will further contribute to expanding this cooperation.
With this agreement the Faculty of International Business (HU) adds an important partner to its expanding portfolio of partner universities (currently 84) in the USA, Canada, France, Finland, Poland, and this cooperation with the Ukrainian university will open new horizons for strengthening the German-Ukrainian dialogue in science and education.