As part of the Erasmus+:KA 2 CBHE Unicom project implementing”University – Communities: Strengthening Cooperation”, a roundtable “University and Sustainable Development of Communities” was held at Sumy Business School of Sumy National Agrarian University. Scientists, practitioners, students, representatives of state authorities and heads of 31 communities of the Sumy region took part in the work of the roundtable. The aim of the event is to create a consortium in the Sumy Region for further cooperation in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development and post-war reconstruction of Sumy Region communities.
Volodymyr LADYKA, Rector of Sumy National Agrarian University, opened the event with a welcome speech, who emphasized the importance of establishing the sustainable development of communities thanks to their synergy with business and universities.
The executors of the Unicom project “University – Communities: Strengthening Cooperation” are an international group of universities led by the University of Genoa (Italy). An important component of the project implementing is the adaptation of foreign experience in the implementation of the “third mission” of the university in relation to the territory where it is located. One of the project executors, the Vice-Rector for Scientific and International Activities, Yurii Danko, spoke about the peculiarities of the initiative functioning.
Implementing the round table program, the participants joined the discussion of six key reports:
Each of the reports ended with lively discussions among the participants, interesting questions from the audience and meaningful answers. The heads of territorial communities of Sumy Oblast spoke about the problems that most important today.
The organizers of the roundtable are sure that they managed to achieve the desired goal of the meeting – they created a friendly, comfortable environment between specialists who will be involved in the implementation of sustainable development and have a direct impact on the functioning of Sumy Oblast communities.