On September 18, 2023, an interactive event – a simulation game «World of Communities» took place at Lviv Polytechnic in an offline format. The event was organized by the team of the project «European studies for technical specialties at Lviv Polytechnic National University» (EUSTS), which is implemented with the support of the EU Erasmus+ programme, Jean Monnet Department.
First-year students majoring in Energy Systems of Sustainable Development and Power Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electromechanics, as well as third-year students majoring in Social Communication and Information Activities took part in the event. In total, 45 students participated in the event.
The purpose of the event was to improve students’ skills in using EU experience and tools for the development of united communities in Ukraine under the conditions of decentralization reform and post-war reconstruction.
The participants of the event were greeted by Professor Yaryna Turchyn, Doctor of Political Science, Head of the EUSTS project, and Director of the Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences. She emphasized the importance of the topic, focusing on the current state and relevance of studying European studies at Lviv Polytechnic. Yaryna Turchyn paid special attention to the decentralization reform and the role of communities in the development of the state, as well as to the support of such positive changes by European partners.
The event consisted of three parts. The first was the presentation of Nataliia Vovk, Associate Professor at the Department of Social Communication and Information Activities, in which the speaker highlighted the peculiarities of technical and financial support of the EU to various sectors of the Ukrainian economy, including energy, public administration, education, sports, culture, health care and digital transformation of various sectors. It was about such EU programs as «EU4ResilientRegions – Special Assistance Programme Ukraine», the PROSTO project «Supporting the availability of services in Ukraine», U-LEAD with Europe, EU4Digital, EU4Energy, EU4Culture, EU4Health and others.
In addition, Associate Professor Nataliia Vovk presented the EU programs for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, which have already been implemented in the de-occupied territories.
During the practical part of the event, students worked in teams, each of which created and presented its ideal European territorial community. In their own vision of the development of the united territorial communities, the Lviv Polytechnic students identified the areas that, in their opinion, need the most support: mainly the economic sector (construction of factories, development of agricultural eco-business), road construction, culture and sport (construction of cultural, artistic and sports centers), and development of education (in particular, inclusive education). Thanks to the interactive training format, students not only got acquainted with the possibilities of development of the united territorial communities, but also improved their practical skills in using EU tools to achieve the specified goals.
The event ended with the diagnosis of the students’ acquired knowledge about EU programs and decentralization in the form of an online quest. The results showed that the participants carefully listened to the lecturers and learned about the main directions of EU assistance to Ukraine in carrying out the decentralization reform and reconstruction of the country. The EUSTS team also awarded prizes to three winners of the quest.
Members of the EUSTS project team, namely: Associate Professor Oleksandr Markovets (Department of Social Communication and Information Activities), Associate Professors Olha Ivasechko, Olena Lukachuk, Oleh Tsebenko and Senior Lecturer Iryna Sukhorolska (Department of Political Science and International Relations), and Associate Professor Lidiia Kasha (Department of Electromechatronics and Computerized Electromechanical Systems), also took part in the simulation game
The project team sincerely expresses its gratitude to all the students and teachers who participated in this event, and will continue to work on the preparation of other interesting events on the current topics of the European integration of Ukraine.
More detailed information about EUSTS can be found on the project website within the Lviv Polytechnic Portal.
