Inna ZUBTSOVA, Director of Sumy International College, had the opportunity to share her experience of internationalising agricultural education at the Ukrainian-Indian Forum.

About the forum

The event “Ukrainian-Indian Forum: A New Strategy for Relations under the Condition of Global Change” was held on 15 March 2024 in a mixed working format. The meeting was organised and initiated by the Krymsky Institute of Oriental Studies, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the National Institute for Strategic Studies and the H. Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine with the support of the Parliamentary Group of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Interparliamentary Relations with the Republic of India and the Embassy of India in Ukraine.

The forum consisted of 3 sections, which addressed issues of trade and economic relations, cooperation in the scientific, educational and humanitarian spheres.

Representatives of government agencies, political circles, business, as well as scholars and experts in diplomacy, economics and humanities from Ukraine and India were involved in analysing the results and forecasting the prospects for the development of relations between Ukraine and India.

Experience of SNAU in the field of agricultural education internationalisation

In the section “Cooperation between Ukraine and India in the field of research and education”, Inna ZUBTSOVA reported on the experience of Sumy National Agrarian University in the field of internationalisation of agricultural education.

The scientist paid special attention to the management of Sumy NAU and the work strategy for 2021-2025, which, in particular, indicates the priority of international cooperation and collaboration.

She spoke about the contingent of foreign students, where the largest share is made up of applicants from China, Turkmenistan, Nigeria and India. The dynamics of application remains stable despite the challenges of wartime and the region’s proximity to the border.

The next part of the report was an introduction to international projects, including dual degree programmes with the UK and the Czech Republic, training of deminer dog handlers in Cambodia, and a joint Administrative Management programme with HSWT University (Germany), which was accredited in 2022 by the German ACQUIN agency.

A special point of the report was the presentation of a unique project on the digitalisation of the educational process – E-SNAU. This is a platform where students of Sumy National University have access to their documents, timetables, attendance logs, etc.

In addition, the forum participants learned about the material and technical base of the university, its structure, measures to improve student safety in martial law, and the place of NAU in international and national rankings.

More information about the international cooperation of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine can be found here: https://international.snau.edu.ua/