International academic mobility is one of the priority areas of activity of Sumy National Agrarian University. Today, employees of our institution have the opportunity to take internships in the best institutions of higher education in the world. In a series of interviews they talk about work challenges, experience and difference in education systems.
Kseniia BLIUMSKA-DANKO – director of the SNAU Promotion Office, PhD in Economics, Associate Professor of the Department of Marketing and Logistics speaks about life and work in France.
I have the position of a director of the SNAU Promotion Office. In addition, I teach the subjects “Public Relations”, “Branding”, “Marketing” in English. There is also “The Art of Public Speaking” – a new discipline. I work at the Department of Marketing and Logistics at the Faculty of Economics and Management. I combine theoretical knowledge with practice, which we implement with our Dream Team at Sumy National Agrarian University.
My international projects can be divided into two groups. The first – those in which I participated as a performer. We submitted grant applications, won and then implemented them. The second group is grants, where I performed the function of a PR person. I can’t remember all the names, but there were a lot of them. Our task was to provide informational support for these projects.
University of Paris-Saclay, Faculty of Jean Monnet. This is the Faculty of Economics. It is located in the suburbs of Paris, in the Ile-de-France, the town of Sceaux. My direction of professional implementation has somewhat changed. At SNAU, I am more of a theoretician and a practitioner. Here I got the position of a researcher, I am in the team of a large scientific project, which includes several universities of different countries. Research topic is related to Global Health. As a market expert, I researched different types of packaging and their impact on human health. Now we are trying to find the “ideal packaging” for A2 milk, which is widely distributed abroad, but in Ukraine we learned about it for the first time thanks to SNAU.
In October 2021, as a part of the international circular economy project, we came to Paris-Saclay, but to another faculty, which has an engineering direction. The SNAU team has proven itself well. When the war started, the first invitation we received from partner universities was from Paris-Saclay. Anyone from our team had the opportunity to join the work in Paris-Saclay, to go to France. There were four of us, I was the first to use this opportunity. I was redirected to another faculty, because engineering is definitely not my field. I got an internship for 3 months, but as you can see, it has been going on for more than a year.
It is difficult because there is a war in Ukraine. My parents, husband are in Ukraine. As it turned out, it was incredibly important for me, because my entire team remained in the Motherland. Of course, the adaptation was stressful. France helped immigrants from Ukraine a lot, but it is a country of crazy bureaucracy. Everything requires a “rendezvous” and pieces of paper. In the first months, various associations helped us a lot. Financial support was provided to Ukrainians. If you do not work and you have a child, 580 euros are transferred per month. This is a small amount of money for France, but if free housing is provided, this amount was enough for some adaptation. Since I immediately started working under a contract, I did not receive financial assistance. For the first three months Paris-Saclay provided me and my daughter with free accommodation, now I pay monthly for it. In addition, the associations distributed food kits. I did not take advantage of this, because I immediately had a job and money to live on. I understand that this support was made for Ukrainians. They even helped with work often not by profession, because most people did not know the language. In my opinion, language is the most important factor of adaptation. When I arrived with my English level B2 and was sure that everything would be fine, they spoke to me in English for exactly 3 months, then only in French. As if in 3 months I had to completely learn the language and understand them. However, there are special courses for learning French. You even get paid for it. 4.60 euros per hour, it seems. You get paid for learning languages. The French supported the adaptation process, but it was still very difficult. New country, new language, new people, completely different mentality.
French is spoken! I was not even allowed to teach in English, because the students’ English level is not very high. Therefore, French, definitely. I got into a team of researchers who speak English, so it was a little easier for me. But again, they want to speak French more and more. I can’t speak at their level yet.
I really like the dimensionality of their work. The French have no moments when they are late, when they don’t have time for something. They very easily refuse from grandiose things and it does not affect their reputation. For example, they were told about the international exhibition 2 months in advance. The Frenchmen did not participate in it, because there was not enough time to present the university at a decent level. I believe that in 2 months you can prepare well and do everything and that’s how we work in Ukraine. They have everything planned and are going according to a plan. This is an advanced time management. Secondly, they have very well-equipped classrooms. Students are provided with everything for studying: from desks, chairs to computers. Most desks are equipped with built-in computers. If you have a special Wi-Fi password, you can use it in any Paris-Saclay faculty. Paris-Saclay is actually very large. Previously, there were 10 separate universities that were merged into one. Wi-Fi and an access to printing, the use of electronic resources are available at any of them. Thirdly, I like communication on the same level. The student can easily contact with the administration, the dean’s office. Young people can study the desired disciplines, personally plan the schedule of tasks, set priorities. It’s the same at school. Zlata, my daughter, can come to school without her homework, because she did not understand how to do it. No one will ever scold her. The system is as follows: parents explain material to the child at home, if he (she) does not understand, they close the notebook, having previously written in it the material that turned out to be difficult, and the teachers repeat this topic. Educators say: “Working with children is our job, not the parents’.”
The French are sweet and always smiling. They thank you for everything, wish passers-by a good day. Employees may go out to lunch together, but I don’t see a close friendship. It seems to me that Ukrainians are friendlier. We communicate after work, establish effective teamwork. Family comes first here. Officially, you may skip work if you broke up with a loved one. You have a grief. On Wednesdays, children are not in school and many colleagues work online because of this. Even if the child is 10-12 years old and she can, by Ukrainian standards, stay at home alone. The French do not plan weekends with colleagues, but spend time with family. Work is work, personal life is personal life.
I will definitely come back as soon as possible! It is not bad to be in France; it is bad to be not at home. I have a slogan here: we didn’t run away from poverty; we ran away from war. This is what distinguishes us from all immigrants in France. Of course I want to go home. My roots are in Ukraine, my husband, my family, my work. I adore my office at SNAU, my Promotion Office, our work. I can’t do without it, I feel bad. The feeling of coming back home becomes stronger every day. It cannot be expressed in words. The only thing holding me back is my child. Now I know for sure that SNAU does not lag behind European institutions of higher education, and in some moments even takes a leadership position: running social networks, visualizing the brand and even teaching staff. When I return, I will work on the development of the material and technological base, establishing communication. I would really like people, who work at our university, to understand why they do it, to understand their value.
