Ostroh Academy continues active cooperation with the University of St Andrews (Scotland)

September 19, 2023

In November 2022, the National University of Ostroh Academy signed cooperation agreement with the University of St Andrews.

Cooperation between universities is possible within the program TWINNING and with assistance of Cormack Consultancy Group.

Immediately after signing the agreement the universities established highly effective cooperation and constant meetings with the stuff of the Global Office of the University of St Andrews are being held.

“Our cooperation with the University of St Andrews (Scotland) had started earlier before we signed the agreement. By the way, me and Oksana Pukhonska gave lecture for postgraduate and master students of the University of St Andrews about the importance of cultural memory during the war time and about all challenges Ukrainian culture and nation have faced with”,

That was the first step toward more endure cooperation represented in the grant project “Partnership between Ostroh Academy and the University of St Andrews for developing humanities and cultural resilience in Ukraine” with the assistance of program of partnership and the Twinning universities.

“Moreover, we are cooperating with the professors of this University like Victoria Donovan and Emily Finer who are especially interested in Ukrainian culture and literature. In general, the University of St Andrews is one of the best institutions of higher education in Great Britain. It is very open and loyal when it comes to cooperation”,

According to Mr Karpovets there was a part of the project that predicted a visit of scientists of ostroh Academy to the University of St Andrews where they adopted the academic experience. The scientists were working in a scientific library and joined “Testimonies from the war” the project which main aim is aechiving experiences of the Ukrainians, forced to flee abroad after russia`s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Secondly, the project was related to some workshops like workshop in the University of Durham (England), where we partially joined another important British-Ukrainian project – “Un/archiving post/industry”. Additionally, we took part in workshops in the Univrsity of St Andrews and recently we have visited the Center for Urban History in Lviv, where we discussed challenges of international cooperation in times of war and problems of historical memory”,

Maksym Karpovets, the Director of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Social and Humanitarian Management, Anastasia Heleniuk, Director of the Museum of the history of Ostroh Academy, Zoia Stoliar, Deputy Director of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Social and Humanitarian Management for scientific and education quality, Nataliia Kulesha, Associate Professor of the Department of Public Health and Physical Education, Zoriana Hodunok, Associate Professor of the Department of Journalism and PR Management participated in workshops and seminars within the project, hold a conference in Scotland with the British colleagues and keep working on their own research.

The teachers of Ostroh Academy are participating in this project as well: Eduard Balashow, Rector's Assistant for International cooperation and Fundraising, Khrystyna Karpovets, Senior Teacher of the Department of the Ukrainian Language and Literature, Bohdan Novak, Teacher of the Department of International Relations and Yuliia Kovalchuk, Teacher of the Department of the English Language and Literature.

They are researching intercultural communication, regional identity and (meta)cognitive psychology in Ukraine.

“Now we are negotiating our further ways of cooperation with the University of St Andrews. Additionally, we want to develop some initiatives related to public science, popularizing academic researches out of university, deepening Ukrainian studies in Scotland and interdisciplinary projects on the border of literary science, cultural science, history and Ukrainian studies. Highly satisfied with cooperation with the University of St Andrews, openness to Ukrainian issues, deep understanding of our condition and sincere willingness to help our academic and scientific community to withstand during russian agression”,

The Faculty of Economics of the National University of Ostroh Academy actively cooperates with the School of Computer Science of the University of St Andrews.

Oleksandr Novoseletskyi, Dean of Faculty of Economics, PhD in economic sciences, Associate Professor, noted that within the project of the open university at Ostroh Academy are hold guest lectures of teachers of the University of St Andrews, in particular teachers of the school of management and the school of computer science who are sharing their experience on relevant issues.

Within this cooperation Ostroh Academy received from the University of St Andrews specialized equipment for contactless scanning of valuable books, editions and documents.

“The students and teachers of the Faculty of Economics are already involved into project led by the School of Computer Sciences of the University of St Andrews”,

Olha Balatska, Director of the I. Malynovskyi Institute of Law, PhD in Law, Associate Pofessor noted that working meeting with the director of the School of International Relations of the University of St Andrews had already been held:

“We agreed our directions of cooperation between the school and the Institute of Law of Ostroh Academy and talked about holding educational activities as well. Firstly, cooperation will consist of holding guest lectures by the educational institutions. Then we intent to develop joint study program “Law”, for masters` students, namely – European Law, which is vital in view of the EU integration processes in our country”.

Inna Kovalchuk, Dean of the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Languages, PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor concluded that organization of the program of doble degree on master`s level on “Language Mediation and TESOL” is being planned.

Eduard Balashov, Rector's Assistant for International Cooperation and Fundraising, Professor of Psychology, noted:

“We are proud of such close cooperation with the best university in Great Britain – the University of St Andrews, that recently took the first place in the list of the best universities according to  The Times and the Guardian” University Guide 2024, biting for the first time Oxford and Cambridge. Sincerely greet our colleagues from St Andrews University and wish further success!”

We are sincerely grateful for such important support to the University of St Andrews during the war. We really appreciate your assistance and hope to continue our fruitful and effective cooperation!