Meetings

Within the framework of the international grant project of the Erasmus+ program “Supporting the Recognition of Qualifications for Ukrainian Universities” (QUARSU), training for participants from Ukraine (Ukrainian National Forestry University, National University “Odesa Maritime Academy”, Kherson National Technical University, Sumy State University, Mariupol State University and the Federation of Employers of Ukraine) was held from September 02 to 06, 2024 at the Jagiellonian University (Krakow, Poland).

As a result of the project, recommendations were developed to recognize non-formal and informal education in the higher education system in Ukraine and relevant regulations were adopted at partner universities in Ukraine. One of the project's key outcomes is a platform to support recognition in Ukraine, which is currently under development.

The study visit program was quite intense and included working meetings, discussions, and presentations by European colleagues on the recognition of prior learning (RPL). During the training, the participants had the opportunity to learn about the process and features of RPL in the European higher education system and to adopt the experience of the project partners from:

- Estonia (presented by, the expert of the Estonian National Qualifications Agency Olav AARNA; Rector of Tallinn University of Applied Sciences Enno LAND),

- Poland (presented by colleagues from the Jagiellonian University Aleksandra LIS and project coordinator Prof. Marek FRANKOWICZ; representatives of the Warsaw School of Economics Izabela BUKOWICZ and Katarzyna TRAWINSKA-KONADOR),

- Ireland (presented by the Interim Vice-President for Teaching and Learning at UCC Dr. Marian McCARTHY),

- Portugal (presented by Professor Rui Costa and recognition expert Carla XAMBRE from the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra).

The training also included a meeting of institutional coordinators to discuss the formation of the final project reporting documentation, the development of a recognition platform, and recommendations for the implementation of RPL in Ukrainian higher education institutions. The planning of the next training, which will be held at University College Cork, and future opportunities for cooperation between the partners were also discussed.