United by aspiration for change: MSU educators met with Ukrainian youth in Katowice

Mariupol State University keeps widening international presence by uniting Ukrainian youth in Europe.

On March 23–25 a delegation of the invincible university paid a visit to Poland, to the University of Silesia in Katowice. The strategic partner was visited by Tetiana Marena, Acting Rector; Iryna Sikorska, Director of the Center for International Education; Svitlana Kalinina, Dean of Economics and Law Department; Olena Pedchenko, Head of English Philology and Applied Studies Chair; and Iryna Gridina, Professor of Political Science and International Relations Chair.

In the framework of the visit, the educators visited MSU Center established at the University of Silesia as far back as in October 2024 for the purpose of supporting Ukrainian students learning in Poland. Inception of the Center had become an important event in strengthening relations between the institutions and reputation of Mariupol University abroad. 

Since this year, the Center will be managed by the newly elected coordinator: Juliana Palagniuk, Professor of Social Sciences Department of the University of Silesia in Katowice. Under her leadership, the Center will become a bridge between Ukrainian youth in Poland and Ukraine. On this occasion, the Center held a meeting with students: prospective journalists, political scientists, internationalists and IT specialists who had come for learning purposes from various parts of Ukraine. Representatives of the invincible university shared the experience of Mariupol University with the students: they were talking about its uniqueness, values and vision and, especially, emphasized that it is they, the young, who form their future.

This meeting has laid the foundation for new powerful networking connections between Ukrainian students abroad and our community. We were talking not about crude theory; we were talking about the way we can turn the crisis into a driver of innovation, because the experience of our university’s relocation is a unique experience in management of chaos and the evidence that the Ukrainian institution can be efficient anywhere in the EU. A university is not just walls; a university is people and common meanings,

— said MSU Professor Iryna Gridina..

The excitement of those who were listening to MSU instructors undoubtedly evidenced that despite the distance, the students’ hearts and souls  remain with their home country. For many of them, the meeting became an opportunity to get acquainted: they saw each other for the first time right there, not only exchanging contacts. They also exchabged the success they had achieved and the common challenges they shared.

We felt as if we were switching from the role of those who are taught to the status of recipients of the changes and real change subjects and architects defining themselves the rules and planning our future. Learning abroad is not a “brain drain”. Learning abroad means accumulation of strategic capital for the state. Each Ukrainian student in Poland is an ambassador who protects Ukrainian narratives and forms the image of the nation through professional excellence. Combination of European education with Ukrainian identity will create a unique brand of specialist, where the slogan “From Ukraine” will become to the world the sign of quality, invincibility and commitment to democratic values,

— said MSU Professor Iryna Gridina.

Besides, during the visit, the educators of Mariupol University paid attention to development of Poland/Ukraine studios as a promising educational and research-based strategy. Thus, Mariupol State University considers establishing a certificate program aimed at becoming a platform for studying Poland/Ukraine cultural, linguistic and social interactions as well as for evaluation of common experience and analysis of modern transformations in various fields of social development. The certificate program will focus both on MSU students as well as on those willing to start learning Polish.

The working visit also included a meeting with Lukasz Golota, Deputy Director of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA). During the meeting, the educators discussed the opportunities and the prospects of adjusting financial support from NAWA, in particular within the academic mobility programs, common research initiatives and development of institutional partnerships. It is noteworthy that the educators of Mariupol University had already participated in the project: they had been on internships, studied the specificity of diplomatic relations, academic integrity, Polish experience and discussed Ukrainian science in the European context.