Tempus ALIGN Ukraina site visits - Taras Shevchenko Kyiv

Monday the 13th and Tuesday 14th of June saw us conducting Tempus ALIGN site visits in Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Two programmes 'Business Informatics' and 'Sociology' were peer reviewed, again from a developmental rather than an accreditation perspective. Thanks to our great friends and colleagues Vladimir Zaslavsky and Olga Yamkova for looking after us during our Kyiv stay! And thanks to all the members of our Kyiv peer review panel - especially Nikita, Andrei, Anatoli as well as our core panel Stefania, Liza Sozinova and I, once again expertly chaired by Paul Hyland!

Taras Shevchenko National University is uniquely placed to take advantage of the international and mobility opportunities which will be presented over the coming years as education in Ukraina moves towards closer alignment with Europe's Bologna Process.

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - concrete

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - gable wall in the city

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - village museum

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - village museum - Tsymbaly musician

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - village museum - Hyland masters the Tsymbaly

Taras Shevchenko's house interior - village museum

Taras Shevchenko's house interior

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - village museum - Vlodimir and Iryna

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - village museum - picnic

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - lunchtime

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - fog

National Ballet Kyiv

National Ballet - orchestra pit

National Ballet - Petro

Tempus ALIGN site visits - Ukraina - Khmelnitskiiy!

The 9th and 10th of June saw us conducting Tempus ALIGN site visits in Khmelnitskiiy University. Two programmes 'Cybernetics' and 'Applied Mathematics' were peer reviewed, again from a developmental rather than an accreditation perspective. Thanks to our great friends Svitlana and Pavlo Grigoryuk from Khmelnitskiiy for looking after us during our trip! Especially interesting was our tour to Medzhybizh Fort, where Baal Shem Tov died in 1760. Thanks also to the members of our Khmelnitskiiy peer review panel - especially Hanna, Laryssa, Roman, Iryna Romanets as well as our core panel Stefania, Liza Sozinova and I, again expertly chaired by Paul Hyland!



Khmelnitskiiy University, with its relative proximity to Moldova, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, is uniquely placed to take advantage of the international and mobility opportunities which will be presented over the coming years as education in Ukraina moves towards closer alignment with Europe's Bologna Process.

Kyiv (en route for Khmelnitskiiy) - Paul signs Letters of Invitation

five and a half hour bus to Khmelnitskiiy

Khmelnitskiiy

Museum Restaurant in Khmelnitskiiy

Khmelnitskiiy - meet the Rector

Khmelnitskiiy - Panel meets the Rector

Khmelnitskiiy - Medzhybizh Fort - gateway

Khmelnitskiiy - Medzhybizh Fort - Julia, guide, Alla, Olena

Khmelnitskiiy - Medzhybizh guided tour

Khmelnitskiiy - city tour - Liza, Stefania, Pavlo, Olena, Alla

Khmelnitskiiy - city tour - playground

Khmelnitskiiy - official meal

Khmelnitskiiy - Sergei, Pavlo and Svitlana wave us away! Next stop Taras Shevchenko, Kyiv.

Tempus ALIGN site visits - Ukraina - Sumy

Monday the 6th and Tuesday 7th of June saw us conducting Tempus ALIGN site visits in Sumy State University. Two programmes 'Computational Mechanics' and 'Management of Organisations and Administration' were peer reviewed, but from a developmental rather than an accreditation perspective. Thanks to our great friend and colleague Kostyantyn Kyrychenko from Sumy State for looking after us royally during our work! And thanks to all the members of our Sumy peer review panel - especially Iryna Skliar, Julia, Dasha, Michael, as well as our core panel members Stefania, Liza Sozinova and I, expertly chaired by Paul Hyland!

Sumy State University is working hard against geographical and regional challenges to take advantage of the international and mobility opportunities which will be presented over the coming years as education in Ukraina moves towards closer alignment with Europe's Bologna Process. Kostyantyn and his team are to be commended on their efforts!

sumy - Konstantin's picnic on the minibus journey to Sumy

sumy - Konstantin's picnic

sumy - hyland and konstantin

sumy - great patriotic war memorial

sumy - konstantin's guided tour - graveyard

sumy - konstantin as guide

sumy - konstantin's guided tour

sumy - konstantin, hyland, vlodimir and stefania

sumy - two vice rectors and konstantin

sumy - hyland explains the panel

Sumy - the peer panel group shot (from Liza Sozinova)

Sumy - o grady's irish pub - yes, an Irish pub in Sumy!

sumy - train to kyiv

sumy - train to kyiv - window 

sumy - train to kyiv - hyland and konstantin

sumy - train to kyiv - conductor

Tempus ALIGN Ukraina site visits - Sumy State University

Thursday 16th of June 2016 and our three Tempus ALIGN Ukraina site visits are finished. I'll post a longer piece on these over the next few days, but in the meantime, Sumy's Konstantin Kyrychenko sends us this information about his university's news feed!

Sumy - Konstantin

here is the link to the news on SSU official website about the site-visit of the expert panel to evaluate the piloted academic programmes:
 
http://sumdu.edu.ua/int/en/news/870-eu-tempus-grant-programme-promotes-international-recognition-of-ssu-academic-programmes.html

Once again, let me express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to our EU partners for their committment and an invaluable support!

Sumy - Pavlo (Khmelnitskiiy), Liza (peer review panel) and Vlodimir (Taras Shevchenko)

Sumy - Hyland chairs peer review panel

Sumy - Vlodimir (Taras Shevchenko), Hyland, DQ, Konstantin and Stefania

Sincere thanks to Konstantin Kyrychenko and his Sumy State teams for their profound hospitality, professionalism and friendship!

Start of June - blog catchup!

Tomm Moore in IADT!

Wednesday May 11th 2016 saw Cartoon Saloon's Tomm Moore visiting IADT, for morning workshops with DL832 Animation students and then the 75th NFS lecture in the afternoon. Tomm's artwork was an inspiration as ever!

Tomm in DL832 Animation Main Studio

Teemu and Tomm in DL832 Animation Main Studio

The DL832 gang wait for Tomm in DL832 Animation Main Studio

Invite to 75th NFS lecture - May 11 2016

NArFUs in IADT!

Monday 23rd of May saw the arrival of four colleagues from NArFU (Northern Arctic Federal University) for a week of Erasmus Plus training in IADT. NArFU are one of our participant HEIs in the Tempus ALIGN project. Therese Moylan, Kevin Wallace, Josephine Browne, Liam Doona, David Doyle and I all assisted with the sessions.

Our guests were the wonderful Natalia Chicherina, Elena Ivanova and our good friends Olga Nizhevich and Svetlana Strelkova.

Svetlana, Elena, DQ, Olga, Kevin Wallace and Natalia (thanks to David Doyle for the picture)

The Other 1916 Conference

Friday 3rd of June saw 'The Other 1916' Conference in IADT, organised by Caitriona Kirby, Jenny McDonnell, and Maria Parsons and supported by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, under the auspices of their ‘Ireland 2016’ initiative. Professor Anne Goarzin (Université Rennes 2), led our Panel 4 session with ‘The Rising goes Digital: @rchive @ffect #easter1916’, a very interesting presentation exploring digital archival representations and interpretations of the Rising in our post internet times.

I was fascinated by how many of Anne's topics were familiar to me as an old old animator! I came originally from the stable craft-base of film, was forced to confront the challenges of the Digital Turn and now, post internet, I'm trying to weave a way through de-digitisation, using the tools and platforms of the digital, whilst asserting the need to and the artist's right to retain the human texture of making and manipulation. I loved Anne's quote from Gregg and Seigworth's 'The Affect Theory Reader' (2009) 'thresholds and tensions, blends and blurs, not fixity...' Welcome to animation!

The Other 1916 Conference - some of the attendees

David Doyle, John Buckley and I did the Conference's Panel 4 presentation on ‘When Virtual Worlds Collide: The Carriglea Industrial School in 1916’. John presented his ongoing project reconstructing Carriglea and Mount Street Bridge in Unity. David and I talked about the 'Carriglea - Witness to History' blog project - a work in progress. Some very nice discussions and questions - a real encouragement to continue our project's explorations.

The Other 1916 Conference - Anne Goarzin (Universite Rennes 2) and IADT's David Doyle

The Other 1916 Conference - John Buckley prepares

IADT FACT Exhibition 2016!

Finally, the evening of Friday 3rd of June saw Brown Bag's Cathal Gaffney opening IADT's FACT Exhibition! DL832 looked great and we welcomed back friends and alumni including Ian and Andrew, Johnsie, Emily, Joe C, Colm Mc, Dee Mc, Charlotte, Lynskey, Jess, Aidan, Martin, Olya, Seanie, Claire O', Padraig (apologies, I'm sure I forgot to mention a million people!). Apologies too to Jamie Greene - I missed him on the night! Congrats to all, but special congrats to my mentees Caoimhe, Ruthie, Jamie and Morwenna! Well done! Then I headed off to Ukraina on Tempus ALIGN at 3am on Saturday 4th of June!

DL832 class of 2015 - 2016 on the Prosecco steps