The University of Western Ontario has taken steps to further develop links with the National University of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA), Ukraine’s most innovative university.
A delegation from Western, including Vice-President (Research and International Relations) Ted Hewitt, Social Science Acting Dean Julie McMullin, Faculty of Information & Media Studies Dean Tom Carmichael and History and Political Science professor Marta Dyczok, recently returned from NaUKMA where they met with the university president Serhiy Kvit and other university officials.
Discussions were held about developing linkages among various faculties and departments in the form of faculty and student exchanges, exploring options for joint supervision at the graduate level – perhaps leading to double graduate degrees – as well as adjunct professorships, research collaborations and co-operation at administrative levels.
Of particular interest, says Dyczok, is the NaUKMA initiative to set up an interdisciplinary program in Canadian Studies, which is currently in its first stages but has great potential for growth, particularly as there is government funding for such programs abroad, she says.
“Our counterparts at NaUKMA are very interested in our university and developing these forms of co-operation, so over the next months we will be following up and taking steps to enact some of these ideas,” says Dyczok. “This is a very dynamic and interesting university, in a beautiful European capital, and will benefit and be enjoyable for both sides.”
NaUKMA is a modern institution with old historic roots. The Kyiv Mohyla Academy was originally founded in 1615, closed during the rule of Russian Tsar Alexander I in 1817, and reopened after Ukraine declared independence in 1991.