Bohdana Kurylo, a student of group 301-EP, speciality 076 Enterprise , Trade and Exchange Activity , Mariia Zaitseva, a student of group 401-NZ, speciality 103 Earth Sciences, and group 401-FM, speciality 292 International Economic Relations, and Oksana Zelenenka, a student of group 201-FO, speciality 014 Secondary Education (English and a second foreign language), participated in the Study Tours to Poland (STP) grant programme in the Polish city of Toruń. The programme was held from 13 May to 23 May 2024 with the support of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, Leaders of Change Foundation, Borussia Foundation, Fundacja KOSMOS, Lacznik.centrum.integracji.
Students of Poltava Polytechnic shared their impressions of the programme:
“The city of Toruń, where we had the opportunity to visit, welcomed us warmly. The aesthetics of the cosy old town, the banks of the Vistula River and positive people surrounded us for ten days. Thanks to the intensive programme, we broadened our outlook significantly, gained not only vivid impressions but also acquired useful skills. We attended workshops and study tours where we learnt about the history and culture of Poland from ancient times to the present. We were most impressed by the Dom Kopernika in Toruń and various sights that can tell us about the legends of the city, the Muzeum Piśmiennictwa i Drukarstwa w Grębocinie, where we had the opportunity to make our own paper using ancient technology, and the Europejskie Centrum Solidarności in Gdańsk, which tells about Poland’s difficult path in the struggle for independence and accession to the European Union.
Throughout the STP programme, the participants communicated with representatives of local authorities, NGOs, and local media, learning about management tools to improve various areas of life in the city and country. An important meeting was with Danuta Brahama, where we discussed the issues of rebuilding Ukraine after the war and its integration into the EU.
One of the final stages of the programme was a workshop on writing a joint project, and the final workshop on creating video content brought us together.
The intercultural exchange did not end there, as communication with experienced people and students from Toruń and representatives of youth organisations gave us the opportunity to look at Polish society from different perspectives.
It is worth adding that during the programme we visited various towns around Toruń: Lubicz, Ciechocinek, Gdańsk and Sopot, where we visited the Baltic Sea coast.
And all this is thanks to Lacznik.centrum.integracji and our coordinators Anna Lamers, Victoriia and Nataliia, who were able to organise comfortable conditions for us during our stay and an incredible cultural programme. Indeed, people, project participants, our coordinators and local residents played an important role in this visit. The friendly atmosphere gave us not only aesthetic pleasure from the city of Toruń, but also warm memories of our surroundings.
During our visit to Poland, we were able to practice our English and improve our Polish, which is very important for our professional development in the future. We can confidently say that we will integrate the skills and knowledge we have acquired into our favourite job.
We are sincerely grateful to National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” for the opportunities to participate in various exchange and grant programmes, because we found out about STP only thanks to our university, which actively promotes international opportunities for students.
These ten days were unforgettable in our lives, but we are glad to return to our home university, Poltava Polytechnic.”
Soon, the Leaders of Change Foundation and Borussia Foundation will open a new call for participation in the Study Tours to Poland (STP) programme for motivated and active young people from Moldova and Ukraine. The aim of this programme is to create opportunities for people from different countries to meet and get to know each other. The guiding force in this process is people, institutions and organisations from Poland, who share their success stories and challenges with the participants.
STP is not only about gaining new experience, but also about sharing your own best practices. Joint leisure time with other participants, organisers and volunteers allows you to get to know your peers from neighbouring countries and make new friends.
To participate in STP, candidates are selected on a competitive basis.
It should be recalled that students of Polytechnic improved their volunteering skills within the framework of the Polish grant programme, and three students of Poltava Polytechnic became participants of the “Study Tours to Poland” grant programme in Wroclaw.
Earlier, scientists of Polytechnic became participants of the mobility programme at the University of Applied Sciences in Burgenland, students of the university and college presented their projects at an international conference in Istanbul, representatives of Polytechnic took part in a scientific conference at Bialystok University of Technology, students of the Educational and Research Institute of Finance, Economics, Management and Law of Poltava Polytechnic told about the peculiarities of studying under the Erasmus+ credit academic mobility programme at the University of Applied Sciences FACHHOCHSCHUL.
Also, on 14 May, an information session “Exchange Programmes in the EU Countries: Scholarships, Grants, Opportunities” was held at Poltava Polytechnic, during which university students shared their stories of participating in academic mobility programmes with representatives of the scientific and student community.
It should be noted that students of Poltava Polytechnic have the opportunity to study abroad under the Erasmus+ grant programmes for credit academic mobility for a semester or a whole academic year at the leading universities of Austria, Greenland, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, and the Czech Republic.
For more information about the current academic mobility programmes, please contact the International Relations Department (room 320-F, interoffice@nupp.edu.ua) or the Coordinator of International Activities of National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” Candidate of Philological Sciences in Philology, Associate Professor of Department of Germanic Philology and Translation Anna Pavelieva (room 310-С, email: kunsite.zi@gmail.com, phone: +3-8-(095)-91-08-192).
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