The Department of Journalism and Philology of the Faculty FPSC of SumDU continues the implementation of the international EU project ERASMUS + "Journalism Education for Democracy in Ukraine: Development of Standards, Integrity and Professionalism" DESTIN.
The second year of work brought brilliant new results and significant experience. First of all, it is characterized by three crucial results: updated educational programs of the specialty 061 Journalism of Bachelor's and Master's degrees in accordance with the requirements of the National and European Qualifications Framework, European standards of integrity and professionalism; admission of students, who will study according to the updated programs; examination of updated educational programs by an international expert group; preparatory work was carried out to develop media literacy courses.
In the middle of March, an international team of experts evaluated the updated curricula developed by lecturers of the Department of Journalism and Philology, Faculty FPSC of SumDU. The expert group included President of the EJTA (European Journalism Training Association), Nico Drok, a lecturer at the University of Windsheim (Netherlands), Mark Schwarzli, an expert on the quality of education at the World University Service (Austria), Iryna Kondratenko, a representative of the Public Radio, and Kostiantyn Kovalishyn. In particular, the experts held a number of closed meetings with lecturers, students, graduates and employers, got acquainted with the logistics of the specialty. The report prepared as a result of the review was highly praised.
May also seemed important in the implementation of the DESTIN project. In particular, on May 21st, an online meeting was successfully held with representatives of the British Ethical Journalism Network, Danika Ilik and Hannah Storm, on cooperation within the DESTIN grant project in the development of online educational media literacy courses for the general public. Representatives of the Ethical Journalism Network provided materials that can be used to develop educational courses.
Another landmark is November 26th. On that day, the project held an online coordination meeting to discuss current issues related to the work package on media literacy education courses for non-journalism students, as well as high school students and teachers.
Olena Tkachenko, Head of the Department of Journalism and Philology, Faculty FPSC of SumDU, spoke about the peculiarities of the preparatory stage of the program implementation:
- We have significant experience in working with schoolchildren and students on the formation of skills of media reality critical perception, we have cooperated in this problematic field with national and international public organizations and grantors. A lot of work was done to prepare the program: discussed methodological and technical specifications of future courses with international organizations and lecturers of Ukrainian higher education institutions, talked to project coordinators from the University of Bath Spa (England).
In addition to representatives of the Faculty FPSC of SumDU, nine other Ukrainian and five foreign universities (from Austria, Ireland, Poland, Sweden) are working on the project, as well as media and public organizations - Ukrainian Students Association, Public Radio (Ukraine), Ethical Journalism Network (UK), European Training Association of Journalists (Belgium), World University Service (Austria). The British University of Bath Spa coordinates the work.
Testing is scheduled for February 2021. After adjusting the methodology and technical specifications, Ukrainian universities will prepare 20 courses, which will be combined into one educational program. The program is scheduled to take effect in May 2021.
- Educational courses will be free and their participants can be anyone: students, schoolchildren, teachers, general public, - said Deputy Head Olha Sydorenko. - The project provides the courses that will be updated and run for three years after the end of the grant.
The implementation of the EU project ERASMUS + "Journalism Education for Democracy in Ukraine: Developing Standards, Integrity and Professionalism" («Журналістська освіта задля демократії в Україні: розробка стандартів, доброчесність та професіоналізм») continues by the Department of Journalism and Philology of the Faculty FPSC of SumDU.
Karyna Panikar, a student of the group ZhT-81
