![[Translate to English:] Die Lehrtandem-Gruppe (von links nach rechts): Daria Bukreieva (Dnipro University of Technology), Kerstin Haag (KU), Olena Horiacha (Dnipro University of Technology), Anastasiia Samoilikova (Sumy State University).](/fileadmin/_processed_/e/4/csm_IMG_20250701_141424_61d298788a.webp)
The KU is contributing its many years of expertise in this field to the project. As part of an international teaching tandem, it is currently supporting Ukrainian partner universities in developing their own service-learning formats and integrating them into their teaching practice. Kerstin Haag, research assistant in the ServU project, is working closely with lecturers from Sumy State University and the Dnipro University of Technology. The aim of the project is to create synergies between Ukrainian universities and local communities in order to jointly support the reconstruction of war-affected regions. Service-learning is used as an innovative approach to enable students to take on an active role in the reconstruction process of their country.
Two formats already planned show what this means in specific terms: Olena Horiacha, lecturer at the Dnipro University of Technology, teaches on the subject of "Personal financial planning and management". In her service-learning project, she and around 30 students want to offer teaching units at schools to improve pupils' financial education and raise their awareness of this important topic. Horiacha hopes that her students will gain skills, as they will learn how to prepare and convey such content didactically in addition to subject-specific content.
At Sumy State University, Anastasiia Samoilikova, lecturer in "Entrepreneurship and Digital Business Communications", is planning a course format in which students design and conduct webinars on various aspects of entrepreneurship, particularly with a view on digitalization. The aim is to strengthen entrepreneurial thinking in the context of Ukraine's reconstruction and to support digital business growth.
The first milestone of the international teaching tandem was the visit of Olena Horiacha, her colleague Daria Bukreieva and Anastasiia Samoilikova to the KU at the beginning of July. The Ukrainians gained insights into the implementation of service-learning in everyday teaching and exchanged ideas with experienced teachers.
The ServU project is a joint project of the Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv), Sumy State University and the Dnipro University of Technology with three international partners - the KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the KU Leuven and the Libera Università degli Studi Maria Ss. Assunta di Roma (LUMSA). With the ServU project, the KU underlines how both academic and social progress can be achieved through international cooperation and innovative educational approaches. Accordingly, it intends to step up its efforts to establish service-learning as an effective teaching method both at the KU itself and at interested partner universities.