Cooperation in human capital development
Viktor Ogneviuk,
Rector, Sc.D., Professor, Academician,
Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University,
Ukraine
Having defined the entrance to the consortium of democratic European states as the vector for its external policy, Ukraine is continuously making efforts to obtain the status of a parity partner and a reliable ally in the promotion of European values underpinning the value of human capital. Such strategic vision of Ukraine’s European perspective sets the format of cooperation with the EU countries in all areas of human activity and particularly in the field of higher education as a dominant human capital creative domain. The Baltic countries play an important role in this cooperation, because their positive influence, notably in the educational processes, contributes significantly to the development of Ukraine as the European state.
Thus, in accordance with the Intergovernmental Agreement between Ukraine and the Republic of Finland until July 2022 they are implementing the project “Finnish Support to the Reform of the Ukrainian School” in Ukraine with the support of the European Commission. The project “Learning together” (shortly, project brand) is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and the EU and is divided into 3 clusters (teacher training, educational promotion and environment).
Borys Grinchenko Kiev University is actively involved in the “Learning Together” project and motivated to study Finnish experience of future teachers’ training as I did at Helsinki University and its basic school Vikki created by Haaga-Helia while examining the Finnish national quality assurance in education.
Besides, at the invitation of the President of the National and International Association of School Directors of Finland Ari Pokka, Grinchenko University staff studied Finnish experience in organizing educational activities in elementary, primary, professional schools and the functioning of the system of professional training of future elementary school teachers in Jyväskylä city HEIs.
The cooperation of Grinchenko University with the HEIs of the Baltic States started in 2010 with the joint Ukrainian-Swedish project “Training of managers in the field of education: European levels, standards, competencies”, which was implemented jointly with the University of Linneus (Växjö, Sweden) with Visby program support. The results were large-scale and useful: from conducting training programs by Swedish experts for Ukrainian scholars to developing a new Master’s program in training managers in the field of education, licensed and accredited by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. In fact, this project prompted the university to learn about the experience of the Baltic region countries in the development and implementation of educational policies, national strategies in education and cooperation in HE and science. Thus, Grinchenko University has established partnerships with HEIs in Finland (Tampere University, University of Turku), Latvia (Rezekne Academy of Technology, Daugavpils University), Lithuania (Kaunas University of Technology, Vilnius University, Lithuanian Sports University, Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences), Estonia (Estonian Business School) and others. It has led to the next joint HE projects:
– “Education for Leadership, Intelligence and Talent Development (ELITE)”, implemented with Tampere University (Finland), Estonian Business School (Estonia), Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania) within the Tempus Program in 2013-2016. It was aimed at enhancing the HEIs role as generators of social progress in implementing public policy on HR development through the leadership and organizational capacity development services;
– cooperation with the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, in addition to joint scientific conferences, has resulted in a collective monograph “The development of the spirituality of education”, dedicated to the actual topic of the development of the spirituality of education in the age of globalization and the role of teachers as subjects of moral improvement of spiritual education values and European priorities for sustainable development;
– development of cooperation within the Erasmus+ program with Tampere University (Finland), Vilnius University (Lithuania) in the academic mobility programs contributes to the enhancement of multicultural education, and international communication and the IHE strategy implementation.
The provided examples prove that cooperation between Ukrainian and the Baltic States’ HEIs is very important for the EU priorities implementation in the educational and scientific fields, development of professional and sectoral contacts as well as HE standards with focus on enhancing the value of human capital and leadership, joint research activity and disseminating the Baltic states positive experience in capacity building, public and institutional administration.
Expert article 2591