PRESIDENT OF WÜRZBURG UNIVERSITY ALFRED FORCHEL IS AWARDED LVIV UNIVERSITY’ “MEDAL OF IVAN FRANKO”

For special merits to Ivan Franko National University of Lviv the President of Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Professor Alfred Forchel was awarded the distinction “Medal of Ivan Franko”.

The awarding ceremony took place during a meeting of the Academic Council of the University on June 9, 2017.

Outlining a significant contribution of the German scientist to the development of University Education, the Rector, Professor Volodymyr Melnyk said that within three years of cooperation between Lviv and Würzburg Universities Alfred Forchel “showed a model of academic solidarity based on understanding the education as a special individual and social value”.

“Perhaps it is this understanding of education and science as a catalyst for the success of social development and the widest social democratization, as well as the foundation of prosperity and stability, prompted him as a leader, scholar and a very open person for collaboration to offer diverse institutional academic, financial and technical assistance to our students, teachers and researchers”, said Volodymyr Melnyk.

Thanks to the initiative of Professor Alfred Forchel dozens of undergraduate and graduate students, teachers and researchers were able to study and undergo training at the Würzburg University. In addition, scientists from Lviv University conducted research in high quality laboratories of German University.

According to Volodymyr Melnyk, significant is also technical assistance provided by the University of Würzburg.

It is worth mentioning that an essential result of the cooperation between the Universities is also active development of the Joint International Certification Program in mathematics and computer science.

The President of Würzburg University, Professor Alfred Forchel thanked the members of the Academic Council, Rector Volodymyr Melnyk and the staff of the University for the Award.

“Both of our Universities are an important part of the European cultural space, both have a long tradition. I feel the need and obligation to facilitate close relations between our universities. Alfred Forchel feels sure that “the cooperation that we started and develop actively is a good example of a really fruitful cooperation between educational and research institutions, which gives good results”. He also added that in the future Würzburg University expects to deepen cooperation with Lviv colleagues.

By the way, the University award “Medal of Ivan Franko” was established last year. Its first laureate became the Hero of Ukraine, the former Rector of the University (1990-2007, 2010-2013), Professor Ivan Vakarchuk