Professional adaptation: military personnel and their family members are trained at UzhNU as part of the Ukraine-Norway project

How to start one’s own business is the topic that military personnel and their family members will study as part of the training programme "Norway-Ukraine. Professional Adaptation. Integration into the State System". Uzhhorod National University has been a participant of this programme for more than a year. The goal of the project is to help the military personnel and their family members to undertake professional retraining in chosen civilian specialties that are in demand on the labour market. The project also provides assistance to its participants in social adaptation to living conditions in civil society. The executors of the main part of the project are educational institutions of Ukraine and the Norwegian NORD University, which organize and carry out professional retraining of project participants. At UzhNU, the project is implemented on the basis of the Department of Sociology and Social Work.

The Rector of UzhNU, Professor Volodymyr Smolanka, welcomed the participants of the programme: "This project is very productive and successful. We have real examples of people starting their own business after completing this training with us. It's not the first time I've met with the participants of this project, and at previous meetings, when the training was coming to an end, I could see that its participants were emotionally uplifted and expressed a great desire to work. I personally like it very much."

The meeting with the programme participants was moderated by Ruslan Zhylenko, PhD in History, Associate Professor of the Department of Sociology and Social Work. He familiarized those present with the history of the project, its purpose and main goals.

The head of the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Fedir Shandor, who is a member of the Security Council of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, joined the meeting online. He is fighting with the russian aggressor in the East of Ukraine as a member of the Territorial Defence Forces. "It is nice that our university is one of the eight universities that have got the right to teach disciplines under this programme. It means that we are trustworthy. I want to appeal to those present - trust me, you won't regret it," emphasized Fedir Shandor.

Some graduates of the Ukraine-Norway programme shared their impressions. Ms. Kateryna was a programme student in the autumn of 2020: "Our course was related to agriculture, and after its completion, I started my own small business related to growing flowers - Fialky forever." Mr. Oleksandr, a military chaplain, also attended the courses. "These courses were a great discovery for me, it became the driving force for opening my own business. I was always interested in tourism, and when I was attending the courses, I realized that I could open my own business. So currently I organize tourist trips on the rivers of Transcarpathia, combining them with excursions to interesting, historical places of the region."

The history of the project began in 2003. The first 45 servicemen of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine underwent professional retraining on the basis of Sevastopol National Technical University and received social adaptation services.

Upon completion of the retraining course, its graduates receive three documents: a certificate of professional retraining of the state standard (from an educational institution of Ukraine), a joint certificate of NORD University and a Ukrainian educational institution, a joint diploma of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of Norway.

 

• Education