During March – June 2023, there was a series of 5 lectures on the specifics of grant opportunities from the EU within the financial period 2021-2027 for professional and organizational development, which were attended online by senior-year students of the Department of International Economic Relations of Sumy State University. Everyone was invited to the class. Examples of funded projects using relevant EC platforms, analysis of trends in terms of specific funding programs, their connection with priorities and EU poliсies, and cases of funded projects were used for enhancement of students’ relevant competencies and practical skills.
The second series of lectures was implemented within the framework of the project “EU Experience for Increasing the Level of youth employment through the Development of professional skills” (SKILLS4JOB), financed by the Jean Monnet Module program. The lecturer of the series is PhD, associate professor of the Department of International Economic Relations Oksana Zamora, president of the Association of Project Managers of Ukraine. The purpose of the mentioned project is to promote EU studies as a tool for increasing employment opportunities for graduates in the EU market or in companies that work according to EU standards and value systems. For this purpose, within the framework of the aforementioned and one last series of lectures, it is planned to improve the curricula of 4 existing courses of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs by including EU-related components aimed at comprehensively enhancing the professional skills of students oriented to the labor market.
In particular, the subject “Management of International Projects” is delivered at the IER department in English, its syllabus was updated in accordance with the project plan in 2022, but additionally, the content of the classes was updated in 2023 in accordance with the new calls, notions and the analysis of the experience of the previous year. Also, it should be noted that lecturer Zamora O.M. regularly posts grant opportunities in the department’s Telegram channel, Facebook group and on the department’s page, as well as provides personal consultations.
