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Students benefit from guest lectures focused on integration in the new Europe

02/02/2021

University of Wolverhampton Politics students benefited from two online lectures that focused on security and integration in the new Europe.

The final year students were invited to the guest lectures that were delivered by two prominent European scholars as part of their Politics module ‘Security and Integration in the New Europe’.

The first lecture, North Macedonia and the EU: A Country Stuck in an Endless Waiting Room was delivered by Professor Olivera Kostoska from the Faculty of Economics – Prilip “St Kliment University in Bitola, North Macedonia.  The second lecture, The European Union and Ukraine, was delivered by Dr Roman Kalytchak from the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy at the Ivan Franko National University in Lviv, Ukraine.

Professor Martin Dangerfield, Politics Lecturer who organised the guest lecturers, said: “The wide scale shift to online teaching during this academic year certainly brought up many challenges and difficulties for all involved but also incubated some new and novel experiences for students and staff.

“Since part of the module and its assessment deal with the process and problems of the European Union’s relations with non-member states in the Western Balkans and former USSR, these expert analyses and ‘insider’ testimonials of Professor Kostoska and Dr Kalychak were invaluable.

“The students agreed and were extremely positive about the lectures and the opportunity to engage in discussions in the Q&A sessions.

“This initiative was only possible due to pre-existing co-operation with the visiting scholars which has been developed via various European Union Higher Educational initiatives, in particular the Erasmus Programme and the Jean Monnet Action. It is a perfect illustration of the indisputable value of academic co-operation with a range of European partners and the crucial importance of finding new ways to maintain and expand these links in the post-BREXIT era.”

Roy Sheward, third year Politics student, said: “Professor Kostoska’s lecture gave a fascinating insight into how it feels being a citizen of a country seeking to gain membership of the EU, with the political machinations holding their plans back.”

Dr Iryna Sikorska, Chairperson of the Ukrainian Association of Professors and Researchers of European Integration who attended Dr Kalytchak’s lecture, said: “The questions your students put demonstrated that they were quite knowledgeable in the topic.”

For further information about the lectures and the associated partner organisations, contact Martin Dangerfield, Professor of European Integration and Jean Monnet, Chair in the European Integration of Central and East Europe. Email: M.Dangerfield@wlv.ac.uk.

Anyone interested in studying Politics in the Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences should register for one of the Virtual Open Days taking place throughout 2021.

ENDS

For more information please contact the Corporate Communications Team.

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