On 20-23 February 2023, the EU4Dual kick-off meeting took place in Kuopio, Finland. EU4Dual brings together 9 European universities whose cooperation aims to promote European values and identity and increase the competitiveness of European higher education. The aim of this alliance is to develop dual education in Europe to address social challenges and problems of today. The consortium’s partners include universities from Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Malta, Croatia, Hungary, Finland, and Poland. Ivan Franko National University of Lviv has joined the project under the program of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange “Support for cooperation between the Koszalin University of Technology and Ukrainian universities under the European University alliance EU4DUAL”.
The international project EU4DUAL (European University Alliance on Dual Education) is implemented within the framework of the Erasmus+ program, European Universities (Development of new deep institutional transnational cooperation). The EU4DUAL project aims to develop higher education focused on professional life, with attention to the great challenges of the future, such as the green economy and healthy lifestyles. It sets ambitious goals, in particular, to unlock the potential and new opportunities of dual education at the European level – to develop international mobility for students and staff, implement joint research, organize dual postgraduate studies and internships.
More than 50 representatives of European universities attended the meeting. Lviv University was represented by Iryna Odrekhivska, Director of the Center for English-language Academic and Cross-Cultural Communication, Oleksandra Litvinyak, the Center’s coordinator of cooperation with industry experts, and Nataliia Mishchuk, executive secretary of the Admissions Committee.
During the plenary session, Associate Professor Iryna Odrekhivska presented Lviv University, spoke about the work and development of the university, including in times of war, as well as the experience of implementing dual education programs at the university.
Representatives of Lviv University actively participated in all the activities of the kick-off meeting; and delegations from other universities showed great interest in education in Ukraine and expressed their support in such a difficult time.
To reiterate, the overall goal of this large-scale EU4DUAL alliance is to create Europe’s largest integrated, transnational interdisciplinary institutional platform for interaction between universities and industry within the framework of dual education. The task for Lviv University in cooperation with the Koszalin University of Technology in this project is to form a complex organizational model of communication and intercultural interaction within the framework of dual programs at the European and interregional levels, taking into account social contexts, ethical guidelines and ideological prerequisites of such relationships.
For more information:
https://internationalweek.savonia.fi