British Council Project on Internationalising Higher Education in Ukraine in Full Swing

On 15-19 January, 2018, representatives of Lviv State University of Life Safety visited Kingston University (London, UK). This academic visit was a part of the British Council project on internationalising higher education in Ukraine. Diana Lakh, head of the Cadet and Student Council, observed work of the Union of Kingston Students, while Iryna Drobit, a researcher of the Department for Research and Development, learned the way principles of active teaching and learning are put into practice.

Diana Lakh follow the campaign of Kingston University delegates for the National Union of Students (NUS) National Conference, a large democratic gathering of students in the UK. Where elected delegates from UK universities vote on national policy and elect the NUS leadership team. She also examined methods of interaction between students and the administrative body of the university. Diana Lakh had the opportunity to observe implementation of democratic initiatives of Kingston University students which are supported by the Union of Kingston Students staff team.

Iryna Drobit visited Learning and Teaching Enhancement Centre of Kingston University and audited a session on Introduction to Learning and Teaching which was conducted by Dr Sabrina Poma, Hendrik van der Sluis and James Beardsmore. After taking a 5-week session with intensive training scheme early academics of Kingston University understand how students learn and how to support the learning process. They are not only exposed to the necessary teaching approaches, methods and media, but also do 4 teaching observations and discuss teaching practices, which makes the session a collaborative process. A valuable takeaway from the session observation was that peer assessment and feedback are important factors in teaching quality assurance. She also participated in a class on Educational Technologies for English Language Teaching taught by Dr Paul Booth.