The ERASMUS+ program is a strategic partner in the process of integrating Sumy State University into a single scientific and educational space. A program of the European Union that supports projects of cooperation, partnerships, activities and mobility in the field of education, vocational training, youth and sports. Together with more than 150 countries of the world, Ukraine is one of the partner countries (Programme Countries) of the Erasmus+ Program. 28 EU member states, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Turkey and Macedonia are the member countries (Partner Countries) of the program. The Erasmus+ program includes a wide range of components: Academic mobility, Cooperation projects, Reform support, Jean Monnet, Youth, Sports.

The EU Erasmus+ program is characterized by the cooperation of institutions of higher education and other institutions around the world, which actively promote the

European integration of Ukraine and have scientists with publications on the topics of European studies, experience of studying the EU for its adaptation in Ukraine. It covers all areas of the economy, where it is important to study and research the EU experience for Ukraine.

In September of this year, teachers of the Department of Language Training for Foreign Citizens began implementing an international project to promote European values in education.

Within the framework of the EU Erasmus+ program, the Commission of the European Union this year supported Jean Monnet's Module "European values of intercultural dialogue in education: interdisciplinary and inclusive approaches" - EUROVALID, number 101085224. Implementation of the Module is planned for 2022-2026.

Since 2024, the project has been coordinated by the Department of Psychology, Political Science and Socio-Cultural Technologies of Sumy State University.

The module "European values of intercultural dialogue in the field of education: interdisciplinary and inclusive approaches" aims to form permanent cross-cultural communication skills of student youth based on the basic values of the European Union. The strategic scientific goal of the Module in the context of the outlined topic of the article is the creation of European content, methodological and organizational foundations of educational programs through the implementation of European standards of scientific student research on the topic of the implementation of European values in Ukrainian language classes, disciplines of the socio-humanitarian cycle in Ukraine and the formation of an inclusive research environment . The module covers a complex of educational, methodical, scientific and organizational work, involves the use of innovative methods and forms of learning: interactive lectures, seminars, master classes, seminars based on the performance of certain tasks, independent work of students.

The project is aimed at implementing one of the key points of social innovation of the EU social cohesion policy - intercultural dialogue and social equal inclusion. From its implementation in the educational process, social benefits are obtained by: 1) representatives of educational migrants and minorities, who are very different from the general society, 2) society in general - since multicultural inclusion will contribute to the development of a sustainable civil society, it will contribute to the spread of European integration processes.

Tasks of the project:

1) study the best European practices of forming intercultural dialogue based on the principles of tolerance, equality, and respect and propose directions for their implementation in the process of social and humanitarian training of students;

2) develop educational, methodical, educational materials about the basic values of the European Union and their implementation in intercultural dialogue on the basis of interdisciplinarity and inclusion;

3) promote students' awareness of the content of the basic values of the European Union and their importance for the development of a sustainable civil society during classroom training (three elective courses);

4) to form sustainable skills of social inclusion in the conditions of cross-cultural communication through informal educational activities, in particular the creation of an educational laboratory, an international summer school, scientific platforms, studios and hubs ("Ukr.Lang.Laboratory for foreign students", International Summer School "Gender Equality in a Multicultural Educational Space: Best Practices for Developing Intercultural Tolerance among girls educational migrants, victims of gender-based violence", Educational science platform "EU Cross-Cultural Studies") and involvement of public figures, volunteers, representatives of the state apparatus in interaction;

5) to stimulate scientific and research activities of students within the framework of European studies;

6) to introduce innovations in educational programs for specialties that do not directly study EU studies (in areas beyond law, economics and political sciences) - to offer thematic elective courses.

7) to spread the experience of learning effective cross-cultural communication in a multi-ethnic environment based on the basic values of the European Union and to involve the general public in the project by organizing various events with the participation of international and domestic specialists, in particular international scientific and practical conferences, round table meetings, webinars, etc.

Laboratory page at Facebook 

The aim is to promote the Ukrainian language acquisition and expansion of knowledge by foreign students, to stimulate active educational and extracurricular activities on the basis of interethnic interaction.

The main directions of Ukrainian language hub-laboratory:

• socio-cultural and cultural-educational (implemented in the involvement of foreign students in learning about the history and culture of Ukraine, Ukrainian cities,  Sumy city and Sumy State University in particular through reading texts; viewing videos about Ukrainian holidays, customs and traditions; listening to podcasts on the topics "Acquaintance", " Words of greeting in the Ukrainian language", etc.; study of Ukrainian idioms, phraseological units; excursions, virtual excursions)
• educational and professional (reading and discussion of texts of various levels of complexity (adapted fragments of articles, publications), professionally oriented texts, mind maps, cards on Ukrainian grammar, spelling, resources of online dictionaries of the Ukrainian language. Viewing and discussion of video materials on educational YouTube channels, news fragments, etc.)
• research (search, analysis of information, preparation and presentation of projects, theses of reports, articles in order to participate in scientific, educational and cultural events, organization of cross-cultural round tables, workshops, discussions for breaking language barriers).

Inna S. Levenok

head of the laboratory, teacher of the department

language training of foreign citizens,

doctor of philosophy

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Cross-Cultural Studies

As part of the implementation of the project's tasks, an online educational platform "Cross-Cultural Studies" was developed to inform foreign students about the values, traditions, and customs of the Ukrainian people.

The task of the educational platform is to study cultural traditions in classes on the Ukrainian language as a foreign language, to establish intercultural interaction on the basis of tolerance and respect for the cultural heritage of representatives of different nationalities in the conditions of European integration.

Thus, the first lesson of the educational platform was devoted to the Easter traditions of Ukraine.

According to the results of the competition of wishes for Ukrainians on Easter, the winner was graduate student Yuliya Bakay.

 Participants of the group "Descendants of Hippocrates" (led by N.A. Pylypenko-Fritzak) and students of the group MC.m-825 took part in the project activities and held an online educational event on the development of intercultural communication and tolerance skills "My National Identity: Identity of Language, Culture, Traditions", which became a celebration of intercultural understanding, an event that allowed foreign students to learn about the culture, traditions and history of the countries where their peers live, to get to know the unique features of Ukrainian culture and history that form the national identity of Ukrainians.