EVENTS

As part of the project “Education for sustainable development: synergy of competences for the recovery of Ukraine” (101178414 – SUSTED), an All Hands Project Meeting was held on December 5, 2024, at Polissia National University with the participation of all consortium representatives.

The project meeting was attended by delegations of

Ukrainian partners:

• West Ukrainian National University,
• VOLODYMYR DAHL EAST UKRAINIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY,
• Higher Educational Institution Podillia State University,

• Chernihiv Polytechnic National University

Foreign partners:

• The Hague University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands),
• Lubelska Akademia WSEI (Poland),
• Danubius University (DU) (Slovakian),
• IDEA Academy (Malta).

During the scientific event, the consortium partners discussed their expectations for the project’s implementation and the first steps toward achieving its goals, in particular the conceptual foundations of the Communication Strategy and the Quality Assurance Program.

The successful launch of “Good Story” has paved the way for productive cooperation between the consortium partners within the framework of this project and future joint educational and scientific initiatives.

On March 14, 2025, a regular meeting of partners in the SUSTED project “Education for Sustainable Development: Synergy of Competencies for the Reconstruction of Ukraine” took place. The main agenda item was a discussion of the planned state-of-the-art study on how Ukrainian universities provide their higher education students with competencies in the field of sustainable development management. The successful brainstorming session resulted in a jointly developed implementation methodology and technological solutions for the effective implementation of the task. The meeting participants also discussed the conceptual principles and methods of joint work on the Communication Strategy and the Project Quality Assurance Program.

On June 26, 2025, a meeting of the SUSTED project consortium partners took place. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the current results of the project and plan the next stages of its implementation.

The participants discussed the results of a sociological study, which was one of the most important and difficult tasks in the implementation of the project. The sociological study was conducted to identify the priority practical competencies in the field of sustainable development for various stakeholder groups: students, teachers, business representatives, authorities, and communities.

Natalia KUTSMUS (project manager) spoke about the preparation of tools for analyzing the results of the study and the next steps in forming its conclusions. The results of the research will serve as the basis for developing the core and variable parts of an educational course on sustainable development management, which will be taught at higher education institutions in Ukraine that are members of the project consortium.

On December 12, 2025, the Polissia National University hosted a meeting to summarize the the first year results of the project “Education for sustainable development: synergy of competences for the recovery of Ukraine” (101178414 – SUSTED). The annual project meeting became a hybrid (online + offline format) platform for meetings and scientific discussions between project consortium participants representing European higher education institutions (The Hague University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), Lubelska Akademia WSEI (Poland), IDEA Academy (Malta), Danubius University (DU) (Slovakian) and Ukrainian partners (Polissia National University, West Ukrainian National University, Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University, Higher Educational Institution Podillia State University, Chernihiv Polytechnic National University, and the Professional Network Of Research And HE Managers In Ukraine.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the results of joint work on the formation of institutional support for the project management system, key insights from training visits to foreign higher education institutions, and the conclusions of a sociological study on the priority of Sustainable Development Goals and the competencies that ensure them for representatives of the educational and academic community, government, business, and local communities. Natalia Kutsmus, project manager, presented the fundamental documents that resulted from the outlined joint actions: Communication Strategy, Dissemination Plan, and Guideline/s for improving curricula / modules.

As part of the project meeting program, representatives of the visiting delegations presented reports assessing the potential of universities to develop students’ competencies in the field of sustainable development. A separate issue discussed was training visits to The Hague University of Applied Sciences and the Lublin Academy of Economics and Innovation, which laid the foundation for the exchange of experience between Ukrainian and foreign higher education institutions in the field of integrating the principles of sustainable development into the educational process. The final discussions concluded with the identification of key actions and tasks for the second year of the project.

The annual meeting concluded with an introductory tour to the confectionery factory «Zhytomyr Sweets» as an example of a modern enterprise that actively implements sustainable management in its business processes.