Bulletin of Mariupol State University Series: History. Political Studies Collection of research papers

In addition to their direct functions higher education institutions perform other important social functions: they form the foundations of civic culture and ethics. Transformation of national educational system involves the formation of socially active individuals with humanistic values, civic consciousness and coherent system of knowledge. Thus, a person becomes an integral part of the world of the people who shares the values of democracy, rule of law and civil society.

The specific impact of higher educational institutions on the formation of civil society was examined by a number of scientists. As an example one can work with the monographs written by G. Shchedrov [9], A. Kolodiy [10] and others, but the problem of the impact made by higher educational institutions on the integration of local structures into global civil society is ignored by the scientists. Therefore, this article’s attempt is to fill the information vacuum in the respective field. The work is based on the data connected with the activity of one of the Ukrainian universities.

One of the best examples of the transformational role the higher education institutions perform changing Ukrainian civil society is the activity hold by Mariupol State University. Specificity of study in this university and the conditions established in this higher education institution to develop cross-cultural interactions help the students which finish the high school to absorb democratic values and participate actively in the development and operation as an element of civil society in our country. Numerous cross-cultural communications between Ukrainian and foreign teachers and students, the model of the international activities of the university are the aspects not only to promote the entering of MSU into the international education market. It is a unique model of international relations worked out by this Ukrainian university and it contributes to the integration of both the university and some elements of domestic civil society, especially NGOs (a number of them are functioning on the basis of MSU) into the system of global civil society.

Mariupol State University was founded in 1991 in the industrial area on the initiative of Donetsk National University, Mariupol City Council and Greek Society of Ukraine. For 20 years, MSU was an educational, scientific and cultural center of Azov as well as a leading center for spiritual and cultural revival of the Greeks in Ukraine. It trains highly competitive specialists and there are more than 20 specialties in the university. Now, there are more 4,500 of students studing here [7, p. 50].

One of the priorities of Mariupol State University is expanding of university’s international relations. Building on existing contacts with international partners and establishing new ones, the university solves complex problems related to educational-methodical and scientific research, strengthening its own human resources as well as develop material and technical resources.

Specific characteristic of MSU is an international strategy of international activities. As noted by its developer, Rector of MSU, Doctor of political sciences, Professor, the Corresponding member of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Cyprus in Mariupol Kostyantyn Balabanov : «Such international activity came into life after the introduction of our own model of international investment that provides comprehensive cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, diplomatic missions, regional administrations, local authorities, leading universities, foundations and non-governmental organizations of foreign states. University embodies this model into practice successfully in the following areas: participation in the inter-university structures; cooperation with government, regional administrations and local authorities, state and community organizations; training of instructors of secondary schools using minority languages; joint research; joint publishing; organization of international conferences; training for educational and scientific programs, participation in international cultural programs, etc.» [6, p. 54].

International activities of university give rise to a new level of cooperation between Ukraine and foreign countries. The format of this cooperation is to open representative offices of international organizations, scientific and educational centers. There are a number of such foundations here, among them: Ukrainian Hellenistic Studies, Center for Gender Studies and Education, Greek, Italian, Chinese, Polish, Israeli cultural centers which promote international cultural and educational ties between the respective universities. MSU is a member of many international organizations: the Association of Mediterranean Universities (Messina), European Public Law Organization (Athens), Association of Legal Universities (Moscow) and others [4]. «Thanks to the comprehensive help made by Greece University of Humanities our University has joined the most prestigious European institutions: the Board of the Association of European Universities, the Board of Directors of the European Public Law which included the representatives from 12 countries and more than 50 universities in Europe, the International Association of Universities and others», says Rector of MSU, Doctor of political sciences, Professor Kostyantyn Balabanov [5, p. 49].

The international relation of Mariupol State University constantly broads and goes beyond the European continent. During the period of 2004-2010 the University was attended by more than 150 official delegations from 28 countries (Greece, Cyprus, Italy, USA, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Israel, etc.) [3]. The university established centers where the students can study various foreign languages and discover the cultural heritage of other countries including Italy, Poland, Israel and China.

Mariupol State University pays great attention to cooperation with the diplomatic missions of foreign countries accredited in Ukraine, and representative offices of Ukraine abroad. The university structures cooperate with the Delegation of the European Commission, the Center for Information and Documentation Centre, Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Donetsk, the Republic of Poland in Kharkiv, Russian Federation in Kharkiv, State of Israel in Dnepropetrovsk, the Republic of Greece in Mariupol and others. The result of this collaboration is the organization and conduct of joint activities: annual Days of Europe in Mariupol, the Days of Italian Culture, Italian Language Week, Israeli Culture Days, Days of Greek language and culture.

The effective implementation of the abovementioned model of international cooperation, integration into the European educational space is verified by the fact that MSU is one of the top 10 Ukrainian universities which joined the single European educational and scientific space. Rector of MSU, Doctor of political sciences, Professor Kostyantyn Balabanov signed the Magna Charta Universities (Magna Charta Universitatum) in 2004. «Adoption of Ukraine to Bologna declaration means that the selected countries through the modernization of higher education in Ukraine shares the same approaches, such as the quality and prestige of education, competitiveness of higher education in Europe, mutual trust between states and universities, mobility of students and teachers», notes Rector of MSU, Doctor of political sciences, Professor Kostyantyn Balabanov [6, p. 54].

During the last 10 years MSU has signed agreements with the universities in Greece (Athens National University. Capodistria, Yanninsky University, Ionian University etc.), Cyprus (Cypriot University, College of Tourism and Hotel Management), Italy (Messinsky University, the University for Foreigners in Perugia, University «Magna Grecha» in Catanzaro, Calabrian University), UK (University of Dundee, School of English University named by M. Frisbee), Germany (Bremen Institute of Foreign Languages ), Russia (Institute of State and Law of Tyumen State University, St. Petersburg State University), Slovakia (University of St. Cyril and Methodius), Latvia (Baltic International Academy), China (Tsytsykarsky University Tsytsykarsky Higher Pedagogical College), Poland (Warsaw University of Cardinal Stefan Vyzhynskiy). The university actively cooperates with universities and institutions in France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Australia, Romania, Czech Republic, Netherlands, USA, Belarus and other countries [3].

MSU has also developed a comprehensive cooperation within such an important component of global civil society as foreign foundations and associations, including such reputable international institutions as: «Alexander S. Onassis», (Greece), «Anastasios G. Levendis» (Republic of Cyprus), «Fulbright» (the USA) , «Borussia» (Poland) and others [8, p. 24]. The result of fruitful multilateral cooperation with MSU with public and civil society organizations in Greece (European Organization for Public Law, Philological Society «Parnassus» Athenian Academy, Center for the Study and Development of Greek culture in the Black Sea region), Italy (Italian Institute of Culture in Ukraine, Union «Dante Alighieri»), UK (Research Center of St. James) was implemented in a number of activities and projects. They include the following: the opening of the European Public Law Organization in Ukraine (2006) in the university and holding annual Summer Academy of Public Law, the establishment of the cooperation with UK State University of St. James together with the creation of the Italian Institute of Culture in Ukraine, Italian Cultural Centre in Moscow State University (2008), opening of the Union «Dante Alighieri» (2009) and others. [5, p. 50].

There is a number of activities hold by the university to development the quality of its scientific-pedagogical and intellectual staff in the context of the process of university internationalization and the abovementioned activities are implemented in various organizational forms. The strategic line of MSU is an active involvement into the learning process of experienced professionals, eminent scientists, founders and representatives of various scientific schools of Ukraine and other countries. Thus, only during 2004-2009 about 160 foreign scientists had public lectures in the university. The professional development of the instructors is increasing through participating in various training programs, seminars, meetings, scientific conferences, among them specialized trainings in higher educational institutions of Ukraine and abroad (Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Great Britain, Netherlands, Czech Republic and others.) [4].

The research work which is hold at the university is aimed to develop theoretical and applied works, improvement of material and technical base for scientific research, conducted with the use of budgetary and extra-budgetary funding, including the active involvement of foreign scientific institutions  partners of the university. The university got was more than 1413,8 thousand of UAH, including the financial contributions of international organizations, about 1163,8 thousand of UAH during the last decade [2].

In addition, university professors actively work to obtain individual grants. So, lecturers of the Chair of Constitutional, Administrative and International law took part in the project HERA hold by European public law organization. The participation allowed to obtain a grant for scientific research work devoted to the problem of migration law in Europe. Every year more than 20 instructors of the university receive individual grants for scientific research devoted to the problems of Modern Greek, it is funded by the Foundation «Anastasios G. Levendis» (Republic of Cyprus), and the program «Fiyespa» and «Jason» with the support of the government of the Hellenic Republic. Every year the University of Cyprus provides 5 individual grants for studying of Greek, history and culture of Cyprus [6, p. 53].

The cooperation between European educational community and Mariupol State University has created new opportunities for students and the university staff. Among them are various programs financed by the European Union, in particular, the project «Tempus». For example, in 2008 a consortium of leading universities in France, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine, including MSU won the project TEMPUS (144920-TEMPUS-1-2008-1-FR-TEMPUS-JPCR) «Modernization and development of professionally oriented courses». According to this program the University receives during 2009-2011 about 60 thousand of Euros [2].

In addition the university supports the establishment and functioning of a number of NGOs as a part of civil society. One of these NGOs gender is a gender center. In 2010 Mariupol State University was one of the winners of the joint EU-UNDP program «Equal Opportunities and Women's Rights in Ukraine». As a result of a memorandum of cooperation between UNDP and the MSU they opened Gender Studies and Education Center in the university. The partners of the Center of Gender Studies and Education in MSU are the following funds: an Equal Opportunities and Women's Rights in Ukraine UNDP, EU, Lithuania Gender Center, other gender centers of Ukraine. During the year the Centre working group prepared and conducted more than 50 trainings on gender education [4]. Active work connected with European and Euro-Atlantic partners and various exchange programs encouraged the students to create a special NGO, League of Political Scientists and Experts in International Relations «Dipcorpus». One of the goals of this organization is to create favorable conditions for the use of intellectual and professional potential of MSU graduates, to improve their employability and to promote career advancement.

Besides, international internships for students and teachers important are considered to be effective and promising form of international cooperation. Among the programs related to student exchanges, there are three main types: educational, scientific and cultural. All these programs have professional orientation and help to improve the professional training of university graduates, the development of the scientific potential of students. The duration of programs is usually from one month to a full academic year. They involve the best students and lecturers.

During the period of 2004-2010 about 1,500 students and instructors of Mariupol State University were taking part in educational, scientific and cultural internships around the world. Geography of internship is constantly expanding. Over 600 students and lecturers were trained abroad only in 2012-2013. They became participants of various educational, scientific and cultural programs [3].

There are about 87 agreements in the sphere of educational, scientific and cultural cooperation between Mariupol State University and foreign partners (among them: universities, institutes, research foundations, government agencies, etc.). The main initiator and organizer of the signing of cooperation agreements and further implementation of all items agreements with universities, ministries of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education and municipal administrations and Greece, Cyprus, Russia, UK, Germany, Italy, Israel, China and other countries is Rector of MSU, Doctor of political sciences, Professor Kostyantyn Balabanov.

Thus, Mariupol State University created an atmosphere of tolerance, creativity and ideas, the high educational institution organized proper conditions for the implementation and development of intellectual, cultural, spiritual and creative potential of each student and students’ organization of the modern type. Students who studies at the university get not only professional knowledge. Mariupol State University promotes the entry of young people into the international cultural space and this allows the youth to know more about cultural values of different societies. Numerous foreign training centers and functioning of international institution on campus is the basis for learning democratic values and the achievements of civil structures in more developed countries. Growing interest of foreign partners to Mariupol State University proves the effective team work, shows the quality of training and expansion of educational, scientific and cultural relations.

1. Міжнародний відділ МДУ. Звіти про міжнародну діяльність, 2009-2010 рр.

2. Міжнародний відділ МДУ. Інформація про позабюджетне фінансування з боку іноземних установ, 2004-2013 рр.

3. Міжнародний відділ МДУ. Міжнародні партнери МДУ, 2001-2013 рр.

4. Міжнародний відділ МДУ. Прес-релізи.

5. Балабнов К. В. Багатовекторний характер міжнародної діяльності МДГУ / К. В. Балабанов // Зовнішні справи.  2010. № 1.  С. 4953.

6. Балабанов К. В. Міжнародне визнання Маріупольського державного гуманітарного університету / К. В. Балабанов // Зовнішні справи.  2008.  № 9.  С. 5256.

7. Балабанов К. В. Наука та освіта в сучасному університеті в контексті міжнародного співробітництва / К. В. Балабанов // Зовнішні справи  2011.  № 5-6.  С. 5052.

8. Балабнов К. В Український центр еллінізму / К. В. Балабанов // Зовнішні справи.  2008.  № 9.  С. 2426.

9. Колодій А. На шляху до громадянського суспільства / А. Колодій.  Львів. : Червона Калина, 2002.  276 с.

10. Щедрова Г. П. Формування політичної культури в контексті розвитку громадянського суспільства / Г. П. Щедрова // Гілея.  2010.  № 30.  С. 387394.

UDK 328.184

1. 
   Trofimenko
   

UDK 327.82(410)(045)