On May 23, the second online meeting of representatives of Lviv Polytechnic National University and Nottingham Trent University (UK) took place.
The main purpose of the meeting was to identify the urgent needs of Ukrainian university in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, to find solutions, as well as to identify common interests in establishing educational, scientific and cultural cooperation between Ukrainian and British universities.
On the Ukrainian side, the meeting was attended by: First Vice-Rector Oleh Matviikiv, Vice-Rector for Education and International Relations Nataliya Chukhray, Head of Research and Development Department Roman Nebesnyi, Director of the Scientific and Technical Library Andrii Andrukhiv, Student Government Representative Bohdan Mirinchyk and faculty of the Viacheslav Chornovil Institute of Sustainable Development, including Olha Kuz. From the British side there were: Associate Director NTU Global Dr. Clare Newstead, Pro Vice-Chancellor – International Prof. Cillian Ryan, Head of Online Learning NTU Samuel Tanner, Deputy CEO at Nottingham Trent Students’ Union Mr. Phil Kynaston.
At the meeting, the universities presented their potential for cooperation. In addition, various models of cooperation were comprehensively discussed, in particular:
- access for Ukrainian students to online courses at the British university and crediting of received ECTS credits at Lviv Polytechnic;
- cooperation at the level of scientific libraries in terms of access to publication resources and assistance to library funds;
- cooperation at the level of student government and student unions to share experiences of student internationalization;
- assistance to the Ukrainian university in intensification of English-language courses in the form of speaking clubs and literary cafes with native speakers.
A separate topic of discussion was the assistance of Nottingham Trent University in developing a policy for sustainable development of Lviv Polytechnic. After all, NTU is a leader among British universities in this field, so its experience in developing and implementing sustainable university development policy is invaluable.
Following the meeting, it was declared that the next task will be to involve structural units of both universities at the departmental level to determine common scientific interests and initiate scientific relations between researchers of the two higher education institutions. To do this, the Institutes of Lviv Polytechnic should prepare presentations on the most important scientific areas and achievements. These presentations will be given to the NTU management for acquaintance and definition of common scientific interests.
All participants agreed that such online meetings are extremely useful and fruitful. They build trust between Ukrainian and British scholars, help to get to know each other better and determine the potential of each university for further cooperation.
