The event took place from 21 to 23 August and brought together more than 200 participants from Ukraine and 28 countries, including Canada, Australia, the UAE, France, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, and others. The forum was attended by educators from Ukraine and abroad, practitioners and scientists, representatives of the government and Ukrainian cultural centres abroad, public figures, as well as anyone interested in Ukrainian education in Ukraine and abroad. The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) International Educational Coordinating Council (IECC) was a partner of the forum.
The Third World Forum of Ukrainian Studies Saturday and Sunday Schools, held at Lviv Polytechnic, was attended by the scientists of National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” – Liudmyla Cherednyk, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of the Ukrainian Studies, Culture and Documentation, Alla Bolotnikova, Head of the Department of General Linguistics and Foreign Languages, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor, Nataliia Bondar, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of General Linguistics and Foreign Languages.
The 2024 Forum was dedicated to the memory of Anna Kisil and Stefan Romaniv, prominent figures in the Ukrainian movement abroad whose life's work and passion was all about Ukraine.
Special guests of the forum were: Orysia Demska, Head of the National Commission on the Standards of the State Language (2020-2022), Professor at the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine) and Liubov Liubchyk, Head of the Ukrainian World Congress International Educational Coordinating Council (Paris, France).
The forum was opened by Iryna Kliuchkovska, Honorary Professor at Lviv Polytechnic National University, Director of the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations, Doctor of Philosophy (Lviv, Ukraine), who emphasised: “There is a demand for learning Ukrainian in the world. Ukrainians abroad should feel that they belong to the Ukrainian people.”
Acting Rector of Lviv Polytechnic National University, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Yurii Bobalo delivered a welcoming speech and pointed out: “Today’s event is based on a fundamental message: ‘Ukraine is strong in the world. The education of the younger generation is the strength and power of the state.”
The VIII International Conference “Ukrainian Language in the World” is held as part of the World Forum.
The panel discussion “Ukrainian Language in the World: A Vision” was an interesting and informative event, where participants from different countries shared their achievements and methods of teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language.
Several roundtables on various topics were quite substantial as well, including: “Teaching Ukrainian as a Foreign Language in Higher Education”, “Teaching Ukrainian Studies in Schools Abroad”, “Areas of Functioning of the Ukrainian Language in the World”.
The Forum also included such innovative events as the “Creative Ideas Lab” and “World Cafes”, where participants not only shared their experience in teaching the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian studies, but also tried to find answers to the challenges faced by the Ukrainian educational community abroad in connection with the full-scale war and mass emigration of Ukrainians. In this regard, the Third Forum should be seen as a platform for professional and personal communication, searching for and developing a new roadmap for the future of education, developing a Ukrainian school based on Ukrainian traditions and enriched with innovative approaches.
The discussion participants also addressed issues of decolonisation of Ukrainian education abroad, teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language in Ukraine and the world, etc. Other important issues raised by the participants included the following: problems and challenges in teaching Ukrainian studies; the place of the Ukrainian language in the world today; decolonisation of Ukrainian education abroad; Ukrainian schooling abroad after 24 February 2022; and a vision of the future of the Ukrainian language in the world.
On the eve of the Day of the National Flag, on 22 August, the forum participants paid tribute to the Heroes of the russian-Ukrainian War on the Field of Mars. At the Lychakiv Cemetery, on the fields of honour, educators from all over the world bowed their heads in mourning, lit candles and laid flowers at the graves of the Heroes, and prayed together for all those who gave their lives for Ukraine.
The World Forum demonstrated the unity of scholars, teachers, and public figures from mainland Ukraine and abroad in addressing the pressing issues facing the Ukrainian language. Preserving the language is preserving the nation. Let us remember the words of the great Ukrainian historian, linguist, public and church figure Ivan Ohiienko: “Language is the heart of the people: the language dies, the people die.”
It should be recalled that a philologist became a participant of the international project of modern methods of non-formal education “Familiensprachschule”, and a representative of Poltava Polytechnic took part in the Erasmus+ training in Romania.
Media Center of
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
