The new joint international project of the Czech University of Life Science in Prague, Sumy State University, Sumy NAU, Bila Tserkva NAU and Dnipro SAEU entitled “Inter-University Cooperation As A Tool To Improve The Quality Of Selected Universities Of Ukraine” was launched. The project coordinator in Ukraine for SNAU and SSU is Dr Oksana Zamora.
The main goal of the project is to strengthen the capacity building of management, young academic staff, researchers and masters at several Ukrainian universities in the field of quality assurance, research, cooperation with practice and community involvement. The goal will be achieved by the active participation of Czech university scientists in the exchange of know-how and the transfer of good practices from the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague to partner universities.
The project includes professional thematic workshops on quality assurance tools in practice, strengthening scientific and research activities, a proposal to introduce a Green Office and transferring know-how on the functioning and development of business incubators in universities. Strengthening partnerships with the business community for student internships is an integral part of these activities.
In particular, the following activities will be carried out:
- Measuring competencies using the BEHAVERA Office Day simulation game in order to keep abreast of new developments in education 4.0 and how to improve soft skills, what is the T-profile and M-profile of competencies. Result: Soft skills competency development strategy.
- Training events will provide to the participants the basic ethical principles of their activities in academic and other activities in both university and non-university fields, especially in the case of educational, scientific and research activities, development and innovation, artistic or other creative activities. The aim will be to disseminate the experience of the functioning of ethics committees in the Czech Republic and abroad and transfer this tool to Ukrainian universities.
- In order to improve the quality and intensity of the university’s scientific activities, training for students on designing a quantitative empirical survey and data collection will be conduct. Students will learn how to formulate research questions and a hypothesis based on a literature review and how to link a research question with related research design and methodology. Training under the project will allow young researchers to develop an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods and practical skills of research conducting. These skills will prepare the young researchers for future applied research activities in their career.
- Seminars will be held to share the essence of scientific research, the basics of scientific work, and the principles of scientometrics to students of doctoral study programs and young researchers. An integral part of this project is to familiarize seminar participants with online databases, their tools for assessing the productivity of scientific work and various integrated tools for tracking, analyzing and visualizing research with the subsequent goal of obtaining grant funding for their research.
- A seminar on the importance of creating multidisciplinary research teams, a discussion on the pitfalls of managing research teams are planned. Starting from the second year of the project (2020+), a competition for grant financing of multidisciplinary research teams activities proposals will be announced at each partner university.
- Involvement of masters in research activities at universities and joint study visits of young researchers to present research systems, their difficulties and challenges in the future. The goal is to hold discussions and establish contacts to deepen scientific cooperation. It will also include a series of workshops focused on the development of scientific skills, which will also concern inter-university cooperation of young scientists and their teams.
- A grant competition will be announced for 5 teams, each of which will receive a grant of CZK 15,000 for accommodation, transport and organizational expenses for participating in an international conference. Participation in the two-day conference will be complemented by a one-day visit to the Institute of Education and Counseling of the Czech ULS in Prague. The grant will depend on a scientific study, which will be presented at the conference and published in a collection that will be sent for WoS indexing. Result: 5 scientific papers indexed in WoS.
- Acquaintance with the Green Office concept and work on the foundation/improvement of own structure. Raising awareness of students and teachers about the possibilities of Green Office.
- Supporting the development of a business incubator with the transfer of specific know-how in introducing a business incubator at Czech University and the creation of a comprehensive understanding of the incubators functioning as a whole. Purpose: collecting information about the work / creating a business incubator and developing a basic plan of its work in order to present these plans to the university management.
- Collaboration with business to provide training/internships: educational activities designed specifically for practical training coordinators and department heads, related to the procedures of quality Manual to ensure the professional experience gained in SMEs in terms of management, strategies, education and training, as well as internship organization.
