On 16 January, the Secretary of the Association of European Border Regions (EBR), Mr. Martin Guillermo Ramírez, an EBR expert on spatial development and strategic change, Mrs. Kaitriona Mulan, the Head of the Information Centre of the Association of European Border Regions at the Kharkiv National Economic University named after Kuznets Mr. Eduard Syromolot, as well as a co-founder of “Bessarabia Development Center” Public Organization Mr. Victor Kurtiev attended a conference at Izmail University for the Humanities.
One should be reminded that the visit of a foreign delegation to Bessarabia was initiated by NGO “Bessarabia Development Center”. During the meeting, the guests shared their vision regarding the possible future for the Danube University owing to the cross-border cooperation.
“Reorganizing the educational process is a complicated comprehensive work. We arrived to you together with people who act as a final element in the chain which starts with our far-reaching ideas and finishes at a specific source of financing”, – emphasized Mr. Victor Kurtiev when representing the guests.
He has an opinion that a vertically integrated system is always an efficient economics. That can be compared to the situation when the future stars of the University are identified when the pupils still study in the college, and the future employees are selected by the employers when the students are about to be graduated. In this case, the students study those subjects the economics demands for and do not waste their time for learning necessary things at work.
The foreign guests agreed with this opinion. When speaking about the activities of the Association of European Border Regions, Mr. Martin Ramirez stated that he had a desire and was ready to cooperate with the Bessarabian University. In particular, he offered a project on exchange of students. Mrs. Kaitriona Mulan named the university “an anchor of regional development”. According to her opinion, the University is a contributor to the development of science, technology and functioning of the cultural environment. She believes that while studying the students can discover their talents, define their own potential and realize their roles in this world.
Summing up the opinions, Mr. Jaroslav Kichuk, Rector of Izmail State University for the Humanities, stressed right now the development of the strategy for the University is important, since one of the priorities is cross-border cooperation.
At the end of the meeting, the Director of the Advancement Centre (part of Izmail State University for the Humanities) and the moderator of strategy working out, Mrs. Valentina Stoykova said that the reorganization of the University would take several years. This duration is caused by the need to obtain new licenses, hire new teachers and construct new laboratories due to appearance of the new specialties. The development of the University’s strategy will last through 2020-2027 and be related to the European programs financing the educational projects.
Formulating a vision of what the University is and should become is the first step of the process. Two strategic sessions are planned to be conducted for this purpose. The first one will be carried out by the staff and Student Board, the second one – by the other students. The participants of both groups will use special technologies for considering all opinions. Two teams would then select 20 people to develop the strategy which will take into account the existing capacities, potential risks and the donor programs, etc. The same group will consider the options of the University name. The obtained offers will be discussed at the public hearings which are to be lasted for a month. Upon their completion the University’s development strategy will be adopted at the group meeting.