Post Staff Writer
 Lewis University administrators Marcia Nackers and Cathy Ayers chat outside the entrance to Taras Shevchenko National Pedagogical University in Luhansk. The women plan to create a teacher-training exchange partnership with the school in eastern Ukraine. (Post photo by Roman Zakaluzny) |
A Catholic university from the United States and a university in Luhansk are developing what may be an innovative teacher-training exchange program that will benefit teachers � and students � in both countries. Administrators from Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, about 80 kilometers north of Chicago, are developing the program alongside counterparts at Luhansk�s Taras Shevchenko National Pedagogical University. |
Both institutions are about the same size, with fewer than 10,000 students, and both concentrate on training teachers.
Marcia Nackers, Lewis University�s director of international relations, called the Luhansk university a great fit for her university. She was in Luhansk recently for a conference and to meet with officials at the Ukrainian school.
�I find that they have very capable students and teachers,� said Nackers, who visited the Luhansk campus with her Lewis University associate dean Cathy Ayers.
The most recent visit was Nackers� fourth trip to Ukraine since 1998, and her second to Luhansk.
She was in Luhansk to lead a workshop at an international conference on education in the 21st century. Educators from Russia, Poland, the United States and Ukraine were invited to the two-day event, which wrapped up on Nov. 13. About 300 students attended the opening day�s sessions, and the two visiting Americans were swamped with questions.
Planning for the exchange program is still in its infancy, but Nackers said that she hopes that within two years, graduates of the Luhansk university�s education school will be able to begin their careers as educators by teaching foreign languages to schoolchildren in the United States. Reciprocally, teachers trained by Lewis University will head classes in Ukraine�s eastern Donbas region.
�There�s lots of interest in teaching in Luhansk,� said Nackers. She said that exchange programs, no matter where they are based, benefit students and raise their university�s prestige. They also help make future teachers more employable by giving them classroom experience and job skills.
Though unemployment is not as high in Luhansk today as in previous years, it remains tough for recent graduates to find work. For some, getting overseas experience means being able to avoid taking an undesirable job.
�Often, graduates are provided with work by the state,� said Olha Minko, vice head of the Luhansk university�s international cooperation department. �But they are often poorly paid, or they work in villages rather than cities. Graduates don�t want these jobs.�
Minko said that the opportunity to acquire international teaching experience would be popular with both students and graduates, and would help them to find better employment later.
�They may even find teaching positions at the university,� she said.
�[International exchanges] force people to adapt to new surroundings and to learn about new cultures,� Nackers said. �It gives [participants] a broader perspective on the world.�
And that�s precisely what she wants to provide by sending Lewis students to Luhansk, and bringing Luhansk students to Lewis.
�If [graduates] can find jobs, then we�ve done our job,� Nackers said. International experience will help graduates of both universities.
But why Luhansk?
Nackers said she first met Ukrainian students from Luhansk four years ago while they were in Illinois on a U.S. state department-funded program. She was impressed with the students, and decided to pursue ties with their alma mater.
�[Luhansk] graduates go that little extra step,� said Nackers. �I can tell that the university cares about its students.�
And, she added, Luhansk�s isolation is only relative. The Internet and relatively easy international travel have made the world smaller.
The Luhansk university�s strong emphasis on teaching foreign languages, and English in particular, was evidenced when Nackers and Ayers made their presentation to the conference in English. Almost all the students and teachers present understood them, without resorting to translators.
Nackers said that since her last visit two years ago, the Luhansk university has seen improvements.
�The university has recently been elevated to the status of a national institution,� she said. �This demonstrates the quality of its work and its students.�
Lewis University offers arts, sciences and nursing degrees, but specializes in training teachers. Nackers hopes to lure Luhansk educators to Illinois to teach Ukrainian, Russian or English as a second language.
Lewis University also has ties to universities in Kharkiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil, but Nackers said that it is in Luhansk that the ties are deepest and friendliest.
�We�ve built relationships with each other,� Nackers said. �We�re looking for ways to expand our relationship without starting at the bottom. This is the strongest university partnership we have.�
�We trust each other,� she said.