This year, Master’s students of the Faculty of Agroechnologies and Natural Resource Management of Sumy National Agrarian University had a great opportunity to study in parallel at the Royal Agricultural University (Great Britain), a foreign partner institution, obtaining as a result a double diploma “Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security”.

Training started on Friday 29 September 2023 with an Induction Day for applicants. The Vice-Rector for Research and International Activities of SNAU Yu. DANKO shared a speech. He congratulated colleagues and students on the start of the educational process. The RAU team together with the SNAU team presented the program to the students. The RAU Virtual Educational Environment team conducted an online tour of the Gateway virtual environment, introduced the features of using digital educational technologies in the educational process and the possibilities of the virtual library. Students shared their impressions and expectations from studies.

“Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security” is a unique master’s degree program. The cooperation of SNAU and RAU will allow Ukrainian students to get diplomas from two powerful universities at the same time and a scholarship at the expense of an international grant. Training in the program is free of charge and in English. In 2023, the first group of students of the Faculty of Agrotechnologies and Natural Resource Management of the Sumy National Agrarian University began their education in the field of “Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security”.

The cooperation of our educational institution with RAU began with participation in the “Twinned Universities” program after the beginning of a full-scale invasion. Then the partner university provided strong financial support and grant opportunities for SNAU scientists. Then the delegation of our higher education institution made several educational and working visits. This year, a dual degree program “Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security” has been opened together with RAU. Besides, in September 2023, the Royal Agricultural University transferred two innovative devices for potato research to SNAU scientists (https://snau.edu.ua/rau-peredav-naukovcyam-snau-vazhlivij-dlya-provedennya-doslidzhen-prilad/ ) and assessment of the heavy metals content in the soil (as part of the project “Assessment of the lands and ecosystems of the North-East of Ukraine, damaged as a result of the Russian invasion”;  https://snau.edu.ua/vidteper-prilad-xrf-thermo-scientific-xl2-u-laboratori%d1%97-snau/).