Kick-off meeting “The idea and vision of the project”

On October 25, 2022, the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Educational Module ‘EU Cohesion Policy’ (EU Cohesion Policy) was launched at Polissia National University!

The project concept was presented in a warm setting at a professional location – the EU Information Centre – with the participation of the university administration and academic staff, as well as students, postgraduates, doctoral students, representatives of government agencies and businesses, politicians, and media.

The participants of the event focused on issues related to the dissemination of EU cohesion policy initiatives to encourage the target audience to study and reflect on European integration studies, highlighting the specifics of EU cohesion policy in terms of identifying benefits for Ukraine, and the implementation of the Jean Monnet project at the university as a new perspective for the academic environment.

The ability to manage and direct the project in the right direction is a joint merit of the research team, whose unity of scientific interests and pro-European vision was a key motivation for making a consolidated decision to implement the intention to participate in the international competitive selection of project initiatives. The conceptual idea of the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Educational module under the project “Cohesion Policy of the European Union” is imbued with the team’s common desire to promote European values within the integrity between government, business, and civil society by increasing public awareness of global sustainable development goals, supporting advocacy, and creating opportunities for economic growth.

 The implementation of the project includes a number of scientific, educational, and communication measures:

• the scientific component involves the publication of scientific papers, a collective monograph, and a practical manual on European cohesion policy;
• the educational component will be provided by teaching annual blocks of elective courses that conceptually reveal the idea of EU cohesion policy and develop students’ hard and soft skills in policy-making, coordination of relations in the field of regional policy, dissemination of European cohesion ideas, and devising regional development management projects;
• the communication component includes holding scientific and practical conferences, round tables, online bridges, summer courses, and other events for the target audience.

The first meeting in the kick-off format lays the foundation for teamwork and sets the stage for the implementation of promising ideas. The added value and expected impact of the project are possible due to the involvement of a wide range of higher education students, representatives of public authorities and business structures, dissemination of European experience in improving the well-being of EU regions among stakeholders to prevent socio-economic and spatial disparities, which is especially relevant for Ukraine in the period of post-war recovery.

Let’s get closer to the European Union together and set ourselves up for fruitful work under a peaceful sky!