Форум Дніпропетровської державної фінансової академії

[Секція 1]

SOME ASPECTS OF TRANSBORDER COOPERATION IN UKRAINE

Orekhova T.V., Doctor of Science, Professor
Vlasova T.V., PhD, Ass. Professor
Donetsk National University
tatianaorekhova@mail.ru
tanya.vlasova@sunderland.ac.uk


Annotation. Transborder regions are the focus and the origin of this paper. In Europe, as integration strengthened, national borders were replaced by administrative borders. Eventually, the activities of border regions and crossborder structures, such as the widely recognised 'Euroregions', began to catalyse economic activity.
In contrast to Europe, the disintegration of the USSR resulted in the proliferation of new national boundaries that partitioned its common economic space. The borders of the former Soviet republics, fully traversable in the past, were transformed into barriers between countries demonstrating the high value the newly created states place on upholding their national identity. However, the emergence of regional organisations in the post-soviet space, such as the CIS and the Russian - Belarus Union State is helping to decelerate this trend and prevent complete disintegration. These organisations have stimulated a need for cross-border co-operation. The main functions of such cross border cooperation is to support sustainable regional economic development and to even out socio-economic differences on either side of the border. These objectives then created a strong movement to create cross-border regions modelled on the 'Euroregion'. This movement provides the relevance and forms the background for this project.
The Ukrainian-Belarus-Russian frontier is an important border bringing together different geopolitical models. Taking into account the common aspirations of these countries to strengthen stability and development, it is necessary to utilise the potential of these territories and create new environments by actions on both sides of the border. Three 'Euroregions' have already been created along this border: Dnipr, (between Gomel and Bryansk), Yaroslavna (between Sumy and Kursk) and Slobozhanschina (between Kharkiv and Belgorod) whilst a fourth is almost ready – Donbass covering the Rostov and Lugansk oblasts.
Appropriate education is a key to the success of these new regions. Cooperation among higher education institutions and support of academic projects needs to be encouraged. “We call upon the Central European Initiative to exert further efforts for enhancing the capacities of higher education institutions from the non-EU CEI member states in this direction.” (Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, 2008).
In response, on the initiative of Executive Committee of the Council of Heads of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine Border Regions on April 23, 2003 in Kharkov National University within the frames of “Knowledge without Boundaries” Project, six Rectors signed a memorandum to create the ‘Border Russia-Ukraine Universities Consortium’ (CBR) which included: Donetsk, Tavrida and Kharkov National Universities from Ukraine and Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov State Universities from Russia. Later the Consortium accepted the East-Ukrainian National University (former Lugansk), Zaporozh’ye National University, Kursk State University and Gomel State University named after Frantziska Skorina from Belarus. These universities together with Mogilev University in Belarus recognise the need for new educational courses that relate directly to these transborder regions and are interested to work with like minded EU universities to further this interest.
The consortium univrsities plus Mogilev university have therefore inserted into their development plans the aim to improve of the relevance of education offered via the organization and coordination of cooperation of eleven universities from the Republic of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukrainian border regions as well as their integration into the all-European educational space to ensure regional sustainable development. The project consortium thus aims to satisfy three major needs:
1.by concentrating on the educational potential of the Belarus-Russia-Ukraine border areas, to realign their educational programs to meet the lack of a qualified labour force on both ides of the border;
2.the exchange of knowledge and educational facilities. In the post-Soviet space, educational centres lost their traditional interconnections. It is intended to increase the scientific-technical cooperation to satisfy the priorities of sustainable development and the new 'Euroregion' model of regional cooperation;
3.the promotion of mobility between the consortium universities. This will create a competitive scientific environment oriented to the expansion of demand for technological innovations.
These regions share many problems such as transport, water and mineral resources, security, and the support of enterprises and businesses. There is an urgent need for staff who can become innovative and efficient managers and administrators of projects in these areas but there are no programmes at present to train such people. This paper addresses the need for curriculum reform and the creation of a new Masters degree that covers trans-border issues.
The executive committee of the CBR, DonNU has been investigating this need in more detail using feedback from the border regions, marketing research and SWOT analysis in order to establish the type of course that would be useful to help solve these problems. The following needs were identified:
1.There should be a strong emphasis on Systems Thinking, in particular, looking at the larger picture i.e. taking a holistic rather than a reductionist approach, making connections and studying the relationships between the parts rather than the parts themselves, looking at long term rather than short term solutions and looking for synthesis and partnerships rather than individual benefits.
2.There must also be a strong element of responsible decision making. In many situations, there is no time to pass responsibility along a chain of command. Managers need to be able to make decisions quickly and take responsibility for what they have decided.
3.Risk Management is a major problem in border regions because where there are different customs and different laws, there is always a strong element of risk when proposing solutions. These risks have to be factored into any decision making process
4.Interpersonal Skills. These are sometimes known as ‘soft skills’ and cover a variety of skills such as IT skills, communication skills, leadership and ethical behaviour, team work and speaking foreign languages.
5.The identification of what the 'Transborder Issues' are. Preliminary research has shown that the most prominent will be transport problems, logistics, management of resources (such as water) and support for local/ regional businesses and enterprises. There is a need for education in all these areas. In all topics, the emphasis must be interdisciplinary and concentrate on the practical rather than theoretical aspects as the primary aim of a graduate of such a programme is to be able to solve problems.
6. A need for universities to develop entirely new pedagogical models with flexibility becoming paramount. Modern students use a pick and mix approach. They maybe move between full time and part time study, take different courses at different universities and learn in different ways be it online, face to face or virtual depending on preference. Institutions will need to offer every aspect of the university experience- from mixing with peer groups to attending online lectures to devising different forms of assessment. There is thus also a need for universities to use modern technology when working together. The consortium has already signed a memorandum ( Belgorod Convention) to share on-line access to all libraries. There is a need in increase and diversify this IT cooperation. To summarise this proposal has identified three needs:
1. The need for higher education courses relevant to trans border cooperation.
2. The need for the new curricula to contain a strong element of systems thinking, decision making and risk assessment.
3. The need for new pedagogies that are flexible, respond to the market and use the full power of modern technology.
The modern society belongs to the epoch of virtually absolute priority of knowledge. Today the dependency of economic and social progress on the level of education and science development keeps growing both in the key scientific and educational centre of the capitals and in the provinces. At the same time qualitative higher education does not only need the corresponding financing but the integration of centuries-old traditions of academic schools into the leading educational establishments in many specialties. Border Belarus-Russia-Ukraine Universities Consortium has definite advantages over National Universities in its ability to use network recourses for solving educational problems which are not coped with at the national level. With the lapse of time the Consortium shall become the main centre of Belarus-Russia-Ukraine scientific-technical cooperation and the guide of European educational standards.
REFERENCES
1. www.crossborder.org.ua
2. www.bsu.edu.ru
3. www.vsu.ru