On March 9, we celebrate the 207th anniversary of the birth of the Great Kobzar, the genius of the Ukrainian people - Taras Shevchenko. On this occasion, at the Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University, the Students’ Culture and Leisure Center prepared a literary and musical composition «Ми чуємо тебе, Кобзарю, крізь століття…», which involves students from different institutes.

The Students’Culture and Leisure Center Staff aimed to show the significance of the figure of Taras Shevchenko, believing that it is the source where we draw faith, strength, hope and love. After all, the bright image of the Great Kobzar is immortal, like the people who gave birth to him. The eternally imperishable work of the genius son of Ukraine is alive with the breath of life, the beating of a hot human heart.

The beginning of spring for enthusiasts of the literary heritage of the Great Kobzar is an opportunity to comprehend his poetic, prose and artistic works in a new way, to gain greater insight into the past, to understand the present and yourself in it.

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The Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas implements the project "Partnership for Climate Change Mitigation (Part4CM)" (2SOFT / 1.3 / 63) since November 2020, which aims primarily for development and support of innovative cooperation, oriented to mitigate the effects of climate change within the RO-UA transboundary region, to provide the sustainable development of territories by organizing a new educational and research environment in the field of energy efficiency.

The implementation of the project involves a number of measures and actions aimed at drawing of attention to climate change issues and have specific practical significance, in particular: the foundation of the Energy Management Agency (EMA) to develop and implement the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP); an installation of electric battery-driven vehicle charging stations in Botosani and Ivano-Frankivsk cities; replication of the Science City “New Energy” in Botosani (InnoSciPromo) to promote innovative science among young people and teach people energy efficient thinking. This includes experience exchanges between project partners, seminars and working meetings.

Thus, according to the project implementation plan, the meeting was held between the partners and representatives of the Regional Office for Cross Border Cooperation (Romania). Ukrainian partners representatives took part in the discussion about further plans of the project realization, among them: prof. Maksym Karpash and Assoc. Prof. Artur Voronych (IFNTUOG), Iryna Darvai (NGO "Bureau of Development, Innovation and Technology" - the main beneficiary of the project), Ihor Popadiuk and Andrii Shpak (Investment Policy Department of Ivano-Frankivsk city council) and the representatives of the Regional Office for Cross Border Cooperation Bogdan Tanasa, Cosmin Ungureanu, Radu Hurjui.

The project is implemented within Romania-Ukraine Joint Operational Programme 2014-2020 and co financed by the European Union. Duration - 1.5 years (01.11.2020 - 30.04.2022).

Since October 2019, the Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University has been participating in a pilot project on training qualified professionals in the dual form of education, which intends to intensify the cooperation between the university, student and economic entity, stimulate the competitiveness of a student at employment market (Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine as of 15.10.2019 № 1296 “On the implementation of a pilot project in the institutions of pre-higher and higher education on training qualified professionals in the dual form of education”).

A study, which was pursued in 2020 by the representative office of F.Ebert in Ukraine, the Scientific and Methodological Center for Pre-Higher and Higher Education, which are partners of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine on the implementation of dual education allowed to collect data on its status, find problems faced by educational institutions, employers in implementing dual education, provided recommendations on further development of dual education.   

According to the project implementation plan, on March 11, 2021, staff of the Coordination Center for Dual Education of the University, prof. Iryna Perevozova, coordinators Olha Nazarenko and Halyna Melnyk participated in all-Ukrainian online meeting of an expert working group of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, held by the Scientific and Methodological Center for Pre-Higher and Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (Head of the Scientific and Methodological Center for Pre-Higher and Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine – Alla Chaikovska) in partnership with the representative office of F.Ebert (project coordinator – Olena Davlikanova) on development a mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the dual form of education in the institutions of higher and pre-higher education in Ukraine (the 2nd year of the pilot project, 2020/2021).

For reference. The Coordination Center for Dual Education of the University was established in February 2020, according to the rector’s order №19 as of February 4, 2020. The Coordination Center for Dual Education carries out organizational and coordination functions to intensify relationship, cooperation between the university, student and employment market, initiates the student’s competitiveness on the employment market by implementing training at the university and enterprise.

It has been more then a year since the accreditation of educational programs under the new procedure started in Ukraine. The analysis of the practice of the first year of its implementation showed that it is the largest and the most effective resource for qualitative changes in the higher education system both by number of process participants and its effectiveness. Along with the achievements during this time, there is number of issues that should be solved.

This specific questions were discussed at the hearings of the Committee of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Education, Science and Innovations concerning: “Year of accreditation of educational programs under the new procedure: results, problems, prospects”. The primary objective of the event is to discuss current issues of functioning and development of the quality assurance system of higher education in Ukraine, defined in the Law of Ukraine “On Higher Education” (2014).

The participants of the hearings became people’s deputies of Ukraine, such as: members of the Committee, the representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance, Unions of Rectors of Higher Education Institutions of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Association of Student Self-Government, national experts on higher education reform and others.

The Vice-Rector, professor Maksym Karpash, by the way, is a certified training specialist of NAQA participated at the event and represented the Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas.

The participants of the hearings discussed a number of issues, including: implementation of the system of educational programs accreditation: defining strengths and weaknesses, opportunities for improvement; the role of external quality assurance processes in higher education to strengthen the competitiveness of higher education in Ukraine; legislative changes in the activity of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance in order to improve the implementation of its full powers; the regulation of economic components of the accreditation procedure.

The Vice-Rector, professor Maksym Karpash expressed his opinion in a constructive discussion. He supports the functioning of current system, considers it an activator of positive changes in higher education and the way for international recognition. According to him: “Education is a matter of trust, first of all, concerning activity results of accredited bodies. Our position is to support current system. If we continue to work according to this accreditation procedure, the diplomas issued by Ukrainian universities will be more widely recognized in developed countries, so the number of foreign students will increase in the nearest future. And this means additional funds and our recognition abroad”.

Based on the results of the hearings, the participants prepared recommendations for assistance in the implementation of the initiated processes.

Presentation materials of MES:

http://kno.rada.gov.ua/documents/doc_arch/75640.html

Presentation materials of NAQA:

http://kno.rada.gov.ua/documents/doc_arch/75641.html

On March 13, the citizen of Algeria, Hatem Ghandir, executive producer of one of the world's most famous TV channels - AlJazeera, who is gaining a degree (speciality 051 “Economics”, a graduate student of the Department of Applied Economics) at the Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas participated in the International Seminar “Geostrategic Shifts of Energy and the Energy Transition Strategy in Algeria and International Experiences”, representing IFNTUOG (Ukraine).

The participants of the seminar aimed to find ways to solve energy and economic problems in accordance with the current situation.The changes on the map of world energy regions, demand rate of energy source materials, new production areas and new technologies, the expansion of consumer markets, which intensified business competition were analyzed. Algerian scientists emphasized that such a situation has complicated the energy competitiveness of the Algerian economy and led to a partial loss of its investment opportunities at various levels.  

Among the main factors that caused the crisis, on the one part are the countries which because of their excess amount of energy resources and price wars tried to prevail at the energy market, on the other part – coronavirus pandemic, which created a stagnation in economic activity, and therefore significant reduction of demand for traditional and non-traditional energy, as a result this led to extreme down in energy consumption by industry, economic and energy companies, in particular. These negative effects also effected on the Algerian economy.  

A number of issues were discussed at the seminar:

1. Determination of geostrategic shifts in energy and its consequences for the energy competitiveness of the Algerian economy.

2. Assessment of national efforts to transform energy and current energy policy.

3. Experience in energy transformation, basics of energy transformation strategies at the regional and international levels and their study

4. Presentation of the basics of energy transformation and vectors of triple energy transition strategy (traditional, non-conventional and renewable energy).

The seminar included discussions with graduate students in the field of international economics, economic analysis and international trade, and with people who are interested in energy economics, which allows them to monitor the transformations associated with traditional, non-conventional and renewable energy sources, to analyze experiences, policies and strategies related to energy transmission. Hatem Ghandir is among such scientists. He analyzes geostrategic transformations associated with traditional and renewable energy sources in his researches in the field of energy geostrategic transformations. According to scientist’s opinion, changes in this area accelerated yet more and effected the competitiveness of countries, which caused new challenges for many countries and certain risks for economies.