On 5-8 December 2022, Khmelnytskyi National University hosted a training for higher education administrators in Ukraine as part of the THEA Ukraine X programme. Kateryna Skyba, Vice-Rector for Scientific and Pedagogical Work, actively contributed to the success of the THEA Ukraine X program, realising this achievement.
The Training for Higher Education Administrators in Ukraine (THEA Ukraine X) is a professional development and training programme for internationalising higher education institutions and science management. The Wandelwerk FH Münster Centre for Quality Assurance and Improvement develops and implements the programme in cooperation with Sumy State University and other Ukrainian and German experts. "THEA Ukraine X is the next project of THEA Ukraine (2019-2021).
In 2021, we announced a competition for participation in the program, and in the summer of 2022, we actively organised preparatory meetings and training sessions with the six competition winners. In particular, from 20 to 22 July 2022, the Kick-off Workshop for administrators of higher education in Ukraine, who were pre-selected under the THEA Ukraine X programme, was held online.
The programme has qualified two cohorts of 6 participants (higher education managers, e.g. heads of international offices, heads of quality departments, etc.) from Ukraine to become trainers in higher education management who will offer replication workshops in Ukrainian HEIs.
Six Ukrainian trainers who have already been trained and worked with the selected participants contributed to successfully delivering the multiplication workshops.
Kateryna Skyba, Vice-Rector for Scientific and Pedagogical Work of Khmelnytskyi National University, worked in tandem with Halyna Protsyk, Head of the International Academic Relations Office and Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ukrainian Catholic University.
In addition to developing the academic competencies and general management skills needed to manage higher education, THEA Ukraine X aims to establish fruitful exchanges between German and Ukrainian academics and administrators and to create sustainable regional networks in Ukraine.
Kateryna Skyba, in tandem with trainer Halyna Protsyk, Head of the Research and Development Department Oksana Zakharkevych and Head of the Postgraduate Education Centre Tetiana Kosianchuk, developed a training programme for heads of departments and deans of KhNU to intensify internationalisation at our university. The purpose of the training was to familiarise the participants with the Strategy of Internationalisation at KhNU for 2022-2025, to tell about the types of internationalisation in higher education institutions, to present a wide range of internationalisation tools that can and should be used, to motivate participants to engage in internationalisation processes, to unite teams to develop and implement short-term achievable internationalisation plans for each of the structural units represented by the participants.
At the invitation of Vice-Rector Kateryna Skyba, the training was attended by speakers who are experts in internationalisation in higher education.
Thus, Svitlana Shytikova, Erasmus Office Coordinator, made a presentation on "Mobility, Project and Grant Opportunities for Ukrainian Higher Education Institutions", during which she outlined in detail the opportunities for the participation of research and teaching staff, higher education students, and university administrators in Jean Monnet, Erasmus, and other programmes.
The University of Münster, Germany colleagues joined the training and shared their internationalisation experience at home. We can actively implement the progressive ideas and experiences of our German colleagues at KhNU, which will assist in attracting applicants who cannot engage in external internationalisation.
Tandem trainer Halyna Protsyk also presented her experience working with online co-teaching courses and explained how to partner with colleagues from abroad, build a course, and internationalise the curriculum.
The training sessions were conducted online and offline, including an in-person meeting on 8 December 2022, where the deans actively presented their plans for internationalising their respective faculties and departments. As higher education administrators responsible for the development of internationalisation within the faculty, the deans spoke about the prospects and warned of possible problems in the implementation of internationalisation tools. We will actively implement the presented plans within six months and report the results at the Academic Council meeting in June-July 2023.
The main objective of the Internationalisation Booster training is to inspire and motivate participants to implement the internationalisation strategy at Khmelnytskyi National University and to point out the benefits of participating in various types of internationalisation.
