On December 26, 2023, the Faculty of Chemistry of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv hosted a scientific, dedicated to the implementation of the second phrase of the international project «Materials Science Ma(s)ters – development a new master’s degree» , which is co funded by European Union under Erasmus+KA 220 HED programs.
The meeting was attended by the staff of the Department of Physical and Colloidal Chemistry and the Department of Inorganic Chemistry. They are direct executors of this project. The partners of Lviv University at the implementation of this program are the University of Zilina (Zilina, Slovakia), Afyon Kocatepe University (Afyonkarahisar, Turkey). The project leader is the University of Silesia (Katowice, Poland). The main objective of the project is to improve the quality of education in the field of materials science by developing a new interdisciplinary master’s program.
The project was presented by its coordinator from the Ukrainian side, Associate Professor of the Department of Physical and Colloidal Chemistry Lidia Boichyshyn. She elaborated on the content and schedule of the three stages of the project. In particular, the first stage of the project, “Analysis of the Labor Market and Scientific Environment,” has now been completed, which resulted in the identification of knowledge and skills of master’s students that would meet the needs of employers, student expectations regarding teaching methods and outcomes, and teaching problems in the field of materials science. The second stage of the project is currently underway to fill the four-semester innovative curriculum, which involves the development of 80 new academic disciplines-modules (20 from each partner university), on the basis of which the student will be able to create his or her own study route in accordance with his or her target interest. To ensure the successful implementation of the Materials Science Masters project, an e-learning platform based on the Moodle platform has been launched, available to all project partners. It serves as a space where partners can exchange ideas and educational resources, as well as improve their e-learning skills. In early 2024, the last, third phase of the project will begin, dedicated to the implementation of a new master’s program. The educational program is being developed based on the best practices of teaching materials science in European academic institutions and will be implemented within the consortium.
The Head of the Department of Physical and Colloidal Chemistry, Professor Oleksandr Reshetniak, informed his colleagues about the status of the second stage of the project. Oksana Zelinska, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Associate Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, spoke about the structure and requirements for silobus and teacher’s manuals developed by the program implementers. In addition, she shared her impressions of the seminar at the University of Silesia (November 20-24, 2023), whose organizers demonstrated various teaching methods and their application in the educational process, and the use of artificial intelligence tools in the educational process.
The participants of the seminar noted that the training of master’s students in the specialty “Materials Science” is an important task of science education that meets the needs of the modern economy, labor market and society in general. At the same time, as Professor Roman Hladyshevsky, Vice-Rector for Research at Lviv University, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, emphasized in his summary of the meeting, dual education is coming to the fore, when theoretical material is mastered at the University and practical training takes place directly at work. In turn, the Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry, Hryhorii Dmytriv, outlined the prospects for introducing the new master’s program into the educational process of the faculty.