The department actively develops international cooperation, focusing on integration into the European educational and scientific space, the development of joint educational initiatives, and improving the quality of training for PhD students in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.
One of the key areas of international activity is participation in the international educational and scientific project "Development of competencies of PhD students for sustainable development: enhancing expertise in managing critical material flows" (acronym UNIFY – Ukrainian-Nordic Initiative For sustainabilitY).
The project is implemented with the financial support of the Finnish National Agency for Education. The total amount of grant financing is 77,600 euros, and the duration of the project covers the period from August 1, 2025, to December 31, 2027.
The coordinator of the project is Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT).
Within the project, a set of interrelated activities is planned to develop academic and intercultural competencies of PhD students, namely:
1. Preparation and coordination of joint works among partner institutions to create an elective course.
2. Development of an interdisciplinary elective course "Socially Responsible Management of Critical Material Flows."
3. Implementation and testing of the course with a joint group of Finnish and Ukrainian PhD students.
4. Development of intercultural competence through collaborative learning in an international academic environment, including a planned stage of academic mobility for Ukrainian students to Finland in 2027.
5. Dissemination of course teaching materials through the digital platforms of partner universities to ensure their long-term availability and scalability.
Participation in the UNIFY project enhances the international visibility of the department, contributes to the implementation of modern European educational practices, and creates new opportunities for academic mobility, inter-institutional collaboration, and training of competitive specialists of the new generation.
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