Students’ intercultural project club «Opening the Borders»

In September 2022, Romano-Germanic Philology Department of Academician Stepan Demianchuk International University of Economics and Humanities launched the students’ intercultural project club "Opening the Borders" as a form of educational work.

The intercultural project club is a voluntary form of extracurricular work for students, which involves development of their foreign language communication competence, broadening their horizons and sharing cultural experience. The coordinators of the club are Associate Professor of Romano-Germanic Philology Department Natalia Nisanoglu and Head of Romano-Germanic Philology Department Iryna Budz.

The projects were carried out for the students of Faculty of History and Philology, Faculty of Journalism, Faculty of European Education, Faculty of Cybernetics, Faculty of Health, Physical Education and Sports.

During the period of the club activity, partnerships with educational institutions in Turkey, Japan, Korea, Poland, and Israel have been established, namely:

The project with students of Fatih Sultan Mehmet Foundation University (Istanbul, Turkey):

• On 30th September, 2022, an online discussion on "Travelling" was held
• On 28th October, 2022, a teleconference devoted to famous people was organized
• Postcard exchange - an exchange of postcards with Turkish students.
• A cooperation agreement between universities was signed

The project with students of Women's University (Kobe, Japan):

• November 2022 - asynchronous videocommunication on a social platform Flipgrid that allowed students to exchange video messages and comments on various topics ("School Memories", "Future Plans", "Future Profession", "Travel", "Best Tourist Destinations in Ukraine/Japan", etc.) The project ended with an exchange of souvenirs for participants from both sides.

The project with students of Global High School (Dongtan, Korea):

• On 13th December, 2022, a virtual meeting of the club members took place on the topic "Peculiarities of national cinema in Korea and Ukraine". The project ended with the exchange of cultural boxes with souvenirs for participants from both sides.

The project with students of Silesian University of Technology (Katowice, Poland):

• On 7th March, 2023, an online event dedicated to the future of humanity was held
• On 8th May, 2023, a teleconference on "Fears and hopes in our lives" was organized

The project with students of Tel Aviv University (Tel Aviv, Israel):

• 12th March – 23rd March, 2023 - asynchronous videocommunication on the social platform Flipgrid to highlight the concept of "identity", belonging to a particular social group, cultural characteristics
• On 28th March, 2022, an online discussion was held on basic values in society and understanding of the notion “happiness”
• On 30th April, 2023, a virtual meeting on the importance of communities in times of crisis was organized

The project with Çukurova University (Adana, Turkey)

aims at an opportunity for IUEH students to publish their own essays quarterly in the Turkish educational students’ online magazine founded by School of Foreign Languages.