Thanks to the two-year partnership between Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (KNU) and the University of Edinburgh within the Twinning initiative, KNU gets vital support in the field of education and innovation.
Recently, KNU also received a valuable gift – computer equipment and supplies from its partner institution. The first part of equipment granted included several tens of desktop computers and 15 laptops.
Renewal of the University’s computer equipment is one of the priorities, given two circumstances: budget cuts and damage to property as a result of enemy shelling in 2022-2023.
According to Roman Petyur, Head of the International Relations Office at KNU, the question of the possible supply of used computer equipment from the University of Edinburgh was raised back in November 2022. Since then, the teams of the International Relations Offices of the universities have been working on solving a number of organisational and logistical problems. First, the partners had to develop a procedure according to which the equipment used by the University of Edinburgh would be transferred to a foreign higher education institution (unlike the usual procedure when the equipment used is transferred to local communities in Scotland). After agreeing on the main needs of KNU and finding local British charities that volunteered to help organise the charity aid process, the matter got off the ground. The final resolution to all problems was facilitated by the Cormack Consultancy Group which helped coordinate the documentary aspects and organise the delivery of the humanitarian cargo.
Finally, in June 2024, the first pilot part of technical support was delivered to Kyiv. According to KNU Rector Volodymyr Bugrov, the received equipment will partially cover the primary needs of university units that have not received renewed equipment for a long time or have lost computer equipment due to damage from missile attacks. In particular, it relates to M. Maksymovych Scientific Library of KNU.
“The cooperation between Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and the University of Edinburgh is an excellent example of how two classical universities not only successfully find topics for joint research and educational projects, but also perfectly understand each other’s capabilities and needs. We are grateful to our colleagues from Edinburgh for their commitment to the ideas of cooperation within the Twinning Initiative and their willingness to support us in difficult war times,” emphasised KNU Rector Volodymyr Bugrov.
The Head of the International Relations Office also added that the partners plan to continue this practice, in particular, with an expanded range of computer equipment and specialised equipment.
Thank to our partner, the University of Edinburgh, for the support and cooperation! Thanks for being in our corner!
Background Information:
Over the past two years after signing the scientific partnership agreement, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in Ukraine and the University of Edinburgh (UK) have been working to strengthen research and educational connections in a number of areas. The collaboration includes guest lectures, academic visits, joint online lectures and seminars, access to library resources, technical support, and more.
The friendly relations are being established within the framework of the Twinning partnership and are part of the Universities UK programme which is aimed at bringing British and Ukrainian universities closer.
The Alliance has catalysed a number of academic and cultural exchanges between our two institutions and relies on theTwinning scheme between Kyiv and Edinburgh established in 1989.
