MSU educators contribute to solving challenges in higher education ecosystem

Implementation of the planned initiatives within the project “Boosting Innovative and Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship in Higher Education Institutions” (BIKE-HEI) involves not only the delivery of training programs for students, academic and administrative staff, but also participation in activities designed for partner teams of the international initiative.

From August to November, representatives of the Department of Labour Economics at Mariupol State University, Head of Department Svitlana Lanska and Associate Professor Valeriia Podunay, completed the training course “Fostering Innovation and Collaboration in Ecosystems.” The training was provided by Climate KIC, a leading European agency and community in climate innovation. The organization is a partner of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, an independent EU body that supports the implementation of the BIKE-HEI project.

The course included online sessions and concluded with a final in-person meeting. To participate in the workshop from 21 to 23 October, the lecturers of the resilient university traveled to Copenhagen. Together with foreign colleagues and partners from universities of the United Kingdom, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Norway, Poland, and Türkiye, they discussed real challenges facing higher education ecosystems.

This course deepened the understanding that each of us has completed only part of the journey toward changes that are significant for the whole world. Real cases of universities’ activities in diverse countries, combined with a solid theoretical foundation, helped us focus on issues of systemic governance, the complexity of processes, synergy of influences, and the importance of diverse forms of interaction,

— notes MSU Associate Professor Svitlana Lanska.

Among other elements, the program included a visit to the non-profit platform Media Evolution in Malmö, Sweden. This opportunity gave the lecturers firsthand experience of seeing how a former industrial city was transformed into an innovation center.

Communication with European colleagues turned out to be both interesting and relevant: we share a similar vision of the universities’ future and understand the urgency of transforming the role of higher education to ensure the sustainability of ecosystems. The experience gained from the systemic innovation approach will be useful for implementing the BIKE-HEI project,

— emphasizes MSU Associate Professor Valeriia Podunay.