During September 18-26, National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” became a modern innovative, scientific and educational location for the Erasmus+ international youth training program “Waste Recycling: International Experience”, organized with the assistance of the Turkish National Agency. The partners of the event were the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” and its separate structural subdivision – Poltava College of Oil and Gas. Sofiia Rudenko, an English lecturer at the Poltava College of Oil and Gas, became the curator of this international educational project.
Students, public activists from different countries of the world – Ukraine, Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria – joined the active discussion on environmental issues of European countries, lively exchange of international experience in the use of environmentally friendly technologies and waste recycling. Students and lecturers of the Faculty of Humanities of Poltava Polytechnic were volunteers who provided language support to participants and conducted creative workshops.
In this Erasmus+ project, Ukraine and Poltava Polytechnic were represented by Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Anna Aheicheva; PhD, Head of Organizational and Analytical Support of the Educational Process Nataliia Maksiuta; Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Germanic Philology and Translation Anna Pavelieva; PhD student of the Department of Applied Ecology and Nature Management Daria Kiriukhina; students of the Educational and Research Institute of Oil and Gas, future ecologists Nadiia Kobeletska and Liudmyla Bylym; student of the Educational and Research Institute of Finance, Economics, Management and Law Danylo Lobach.
The purpose of the Erasmus+ international youth training was to increase the environmental culture and awareness of students, to form in young people a caring attitude to nature, active life position, willingness to participate in social and cultural life of the town, development of research competencies. Workshops and master classes, organized by practitioners and leading scientists, once again drew participants’ attention to modern problems – waste collection and its impact on the environment, as well as motivated students to study the problem of collection and disposal of solid waste along with finding solutions.
“Extensive international opportunities are opened to student youth, educational programs implemented by leading European partner universities, support for youth research, educational, environmental and social initiatives guarantee the readiness of young people in our countries to the daily challenges dictated by contemporaneity.
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” already has a number of international cooperation agreements with the world’s leading higher education institutions and successfully implements a number of joint research and educational projects. We actively participate in Erasmus+ projects.
It is no coincidence that environmental issues have become the focus of our attention, since along with information, digital technologies, and digitalization, in the Polytechnic there is a whole scientific school, and lecturers of the Department of Applied Ecology and Nature Management are engaged in research and finding solutions to a number of environmental problems. We are glad to meet guests and partners in the hospitable Poltava land, share many years of our practical experience and adopt the best acquisitions of European nations,” – commented Vice-Rector for Scientific and International Work of the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” Svitlana Sivitska.
According to the Director of Poltava College of Oil and Gas Liubov Shumska, a strong scientific and educational collaboration between the college and the university in the international arena gives significant results, and students have the opportunity to gain real practical knowledge, to be engaged in research: “It is gratifying that our university has implemented a large-scale international project, the participants of which had the opportunity to better understand the environmental issues discussed in presentations, master classes and workshops. College students willingly joined the language support and guided tours of the city, everything planned was successful! For us, this is a new invaluable experience, an opportunity to practice foreign language skills, enrich culturally, and expand our own worldview”.
During the training, a number of activities aimed at improving the environmental literacy of young people were successfully implemented, including a campaign to collect recycled paper, by which the organizers conveyed to students the importance of the waste collection process, and experts also shared practical advice on organizing such a campaign in each European country.
During the discussions, the participants presented the experience of solving the identified environmental problems at the national level. In addition, partakers learned about methods of joint training on the problems of solid waste collection and disposal as well as finding possible solutions (intercultural dialogue, pair/group work, role-playing games, discussions, expert consultations, and practice examples, etc.).
The participating teams prepared presentations on the main problems of waste recycling in their own country and presented successful startups or existing business projects on waste and hazardous waste recycling in different European regions.
The participants of the training spent a busy day in the River Park, collecting plastic and garbage on the river bank, sorting it for further processing.
Numerous master classes and workshops became a kind of “highlight”. During them partakers got to know each other, learned how to properly collect and sort garbage, as well as made posters on environmental issues. All days of the training were accompanied by intercultural communication, preparation of national dishes of the participating countries, presentations of non-formal education methods, promotion of environmental education among Europeans.
The rich cultural program of the training gave a unique chance to each of the participants to get closer acquainted with the culture, history, customs and traditions of each of the represented countries, to exchange impressions, to meaningfully spend leisure time.
During the week the students attended Bulgarian, Romanian, Turkish and Ukrainian cultural evenings, learned to work with clay at the workshop “Clay modeling”, got acquainted with the talismans of the Ukrainian people at the master class “Doll-motanka”, painted with paints during the master class “Autumn easels”.
Master classes and workshops for the partakers were conducted by scientists of the Department of Fine Arts: “Painting” – artist, ceramist, member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, senior lecturer of the Department of Fine Arts Serhii Zhuravlov; “Collages of Fabric” – artist, member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine and the National Union of Masters of Folk Art of Ukraine, senior lecturer at the Department of Fine Arts Olha Piliuhina, “Pottery” – Candidate of Art History, Head of the Department of Fine Arts Tetiana Zinenko.
The English-language evening tour of Poltava was conducted by Anna Pavelieva, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Germanic Philology and Translation of Poltava Polytechnic.
“It was extremely useful to hear about waste recycling at the present moment in different countries, to communicate with participants – representatives of different professions. The master class on making dumplings, which I had to translate, turned out to be very unusual,” – shares her impression Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Germanic Philology and Translation Anna Pavelieva.
According to the Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities of the university Anna Aheicheva, participation in youth exchanges is a unique opportunity for scientists and students-translators to grow professionally and improve their own language level.
“As a part of the exchange program, lecturers of the Faculty of Humanities conducted tours of the university campus and the town of Poltava, an interactive event “Art Café”. The diversity of the participating countries and the wonderful cozy location of the University’s Center for Contemporary Art added a special charm to such an important event.
We would like to express special gratitude to the university administration, personally to the rector Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Onyshchenko and the director of the Poltava College of Oil and Gas Liubov Petrivna Shumska for comprehensive assistance, support, and development of international cooperation. It was an incredible pleasure to talk to the representatives of the Turkish organization TUFAK from Ankara and discuss possible prospects for further cooperation. We hope to continue fruitful professional communication,” – said the head of the Faculty of Humanities.
The Ukrainian cultural evening did not leave anyone indifferent. The group of participants from Ukraine impressed with their own hospitality and generous refreshments of foreign guests. Representatives of the participating countries were happy to taste national delicacies, and even tried themselves in the role of chefs while cooking dumplings in the manufactory “Komora”. A concert program prepared by students with the assistance of the Center for Culture and Student Creativity as well as a meeting with the leaders of Poltava Polytechnic became an aesthetic pleasure for all. Also, the brightest memories of the participants were a tour of Poltava in the evening and a joint celebration of the City Day, a tour of modern campuses and sports locations of Poltava Polytechnic, participation in a street action on the making of posters, and master classes.
The result of the training was a bright presentation of participants’ project works, who, based on acquired knowledge, skills and abilities, demonstrated a high level of awareness of the research topic and tried to convey to peers a message about common problems of youth in Europe and the world.
All foreign partakers of the project left Ukraine full of enthusiasm, creativity, incredible energy, and determined to take part in future international projects in the future.
“It is a pleasure to note the important fact that the university and the college are actively developing the priority areas of international cooperation in the field of higher professional education, increasing its importance as an essential factor in integrating the national education system into the world educational space.
36 participants of the youth training from different European countries had the opportunity to receive key messages needed to combat the global environmental problems of mankind. A human, his impact on the environment is the key to understanding the “root” of the garbage problem, which is accumulating more and more every minute. No directives, government or public activists will be able to help humanity if it does not realize itself the global nature of the problems raised, does not find a reason and does not make our planet home for all!” – says the coordinator of the Erasmus+ project Sofiia Rudenko.
Erasmus+ is a modern EU academic exchange program that promotes and supports educational projects, events, partnerships, travelling and mobility in the field of education, sport, and youth. Erasmus+ program motivates honesty in learning, as the acquired knowledge greatly facilitates future professional life. It is important to accumulate the best European experience that contributes to personal development.
Participation in such competitions enables higher education institutions to improve international project management skills, enhance organizational capacity, open new horizons for internationalization of higher education at both organizational and individual levels, modernize educational programs, introduce new teaching and studying methods, as well as new disciplines in English and other foreign languages, to improve the management of the institution in order to upgrade the quality of higher education and intensify cooperation with partners from around the world.
It should be recalled that the student-philologist became a participant of the Erasmus+ youth exchange project dedicated to social stereotypes, and the lecturer underwent media literacy training in Leipzig. Previously, Poltava environmental activists shared their experience in garbage collection with polytechnic students.
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National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
