With support from the Department for the Economy, St Mary's University College was able to facilitate a week-long course in Ukraine in March 2019 on the subject of internationalization and interculturalism within border economies. Fourteen students from the Liberal Arts and PGCE programmes at the College participated in the study visit.

Lectures on the topics of Ukrainian culture and the political and historic experience were interspersed with visits to economy-related and globally important UNESCO sites. Visits included the War Memorial in the Military Church in Lviv, the Ukrainian Coffee processing factory and Lviv University museum, where there was a performance given by Ukrainian Philology students. The students also attended specialist workshops and engaged in ongoing networking with Ukrainian and Polish students. The core themes of the programme were pertinent to the whole issue of employability within a rapidly changing European context. The students were awarded a Certificate of Completion at the end of the course.

The programme included four universities and was organised with the help of international students and the host universities. St Patrick’s Day was celebrated with the students of the Jagellonian University in Krakow en route to Lviv.

The partner universities who participated were:

Contributing to the programme were Dean of Humanities Prof. Władysław Witalisz (Jagellonian University) and Prof. Mykhail Bilynsky, Director of the English Department (University of Lviv), Professor Adam Nowakowski (Jagellonian University); Lecturer Nadia Krupska (University of Lviv) and Professor Michal Choinski. The programme was coordinated by Dr Gerard McCann (International Studies at St Mary’s University College, Belfast). Administrative assistance for such a complex international programme was provided by Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa w Krośnie.