Justus Liebig University Giessen and National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine, expand their cooperation
Successful exchange of JLU and National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy is to be extended to other subject areas through partnership agreement
No 61 • 27 April 2022
Taking concrete steps towards strengthening Ukraine: The Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) and the National University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA) in Kyiv will deepen their cooperation in the future. Together with representatives of both universities, Prof. Serhiy Kvit, President of NaUKMA, and JLU President Prof. Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee, decided to extend the exchange agreement that has existed since 2012 during an online meeting. An institutional partnership agreement, which shall be signed digitally soon, is planned to serve as a basis for intensifying existing cooperation in research and teaching, including other fields represented at both universities.
“Against the background of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, which puts our colleagues in Kyiv into a serious existential crisis and great danger, we want to commit ourselves to our Ukrainian partners and strengthen our cooperation with them, especially in these times,” says JLU President Prof. Mukherjee. “NaUKMA is one of the country's leading universities and we will greatly benefit from an increased cooperation.”
Due to the events of the war, the NaUKMA campus is currently closed. University administration and members of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy fear the danger of a rocket attack, so that no teaching can currently take place on site. Therefore, JLU wants to provide as many NaUKMA students as possible with a perspective in this difficult time: Currently, approximately 230 NaUKMA students are enrolled at JLU as exchange students; in some cases they also participate in the digital teaching and learning offers of the JLU Virtual International Programme. In addition to that, a number of NaUKMA scientists are currently researching and teaching at JLU. They are supported by a specially set up aid fund of JLU as well as through third-party funds, for instance from the Erasmus+ programme and from the Eastern Partnership Programme of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
"NaUKMA is doing everything possible to use the current situation as an opportunity and to expand cooperation with strategic partners worldwide," says NaUKMA President Prof. Kvit, who was Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine from 2014 to 2016. "All the steps we take are towards avoiding the so-called ‘brain drain’," Kvit emphasizes, adding: "We have bright minds here as well as in Germany, and we need the expertise of scientists and junior researchers in both countries."
In order to strengthen partnership connections, both universities will each set up liaison offices on the partner university’s campus, so-called information points. NaUKMA immediately receives a presence in the premises of the JLU main building. As soon as possible, JLU will also be represented at NaUKMA in Kyiv with its own JLU information point; corresponding JLU information points already exist at partner universities in Bogotá (Colombia), Lodz (Poland) and Sydney (Australia).
Furthermore, under the leadership of the Giessen Center for Eastern European Studies (GiZo) of JLU, the university plans towards a joint master's degree programme on Ukraine in its transnational and transcultural relations; the first courses are to start in a preliminary programme as early as winter semester 2022/23. The previous close academic and friendly connections to NaUKMA provide an excellent basis for expanding cooperation in research and teaching.
NaUKMA
The National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA) is one of the leading Ukrainian universities. It was founded in 1615 and re-established in 1991. Approximately 4,500 students are enrolled at NaUKMA. Subjects include the humanities, economics, computer science, law, natural sciences and social sciences.
- More Information
www.uni-giessen.de/internationales
https://www.uni-giessen.de/ueber-uns/pressestelle/ukraine
https://www.uni-giessen.de/internationales/internationale-abkommen/infopartner/europa/naukma
- Contact
Julia Volz, International Office of JLU
Goethestraße 58, D-35390 Gießen
Phone: +49 (0)641 99 12130
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