Journalism Education for Democracy in Ukraine: Developing Standards, Integrity and Professionalism

Erasmus+ KA2 project

Project number: 598964-EPP-1-2018-1-UK-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP Erasmus+ KA2 – Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices – Capacity Building in the field of Higher Education

Project Goals and Objectives

Goals are staples of project planning, giving you long-term vision, motivation & focus:

A1. Curriculum Reform

Curriculum Reform: to reform, start to deliver and evaluate new/revised curriculum for 9 BA and 11 MA Journalism programmes (2 degrees in each of the 10 Ukrainian partner universities), and the institutional quality assurance for academic programmes, so that all new/revised programmes are aligned with European Qualifications Frameworks (EQF), meeting European standards of integrity and professionalism, improving students’ industry engagement, career preparation and employability, and enabling staff and students to develop strong and sustainable connections with European journalism departments and associations

A2. Curriculum Context

Curriculum Context: to enhance the media environment in which Journalism graduates will work: improving the ‘media literacy’ of key target groups, providing new opportunities for Journalism students to engage with public audiences during their training, and raising public awareness of the vital role of journalists and media in the promotion and protection of citizens’ rights within a multi-cultural democracy.

Specific Project Objectives are:

to audit (desk review) all current curriculum (20 degrees), with gap analyses and action plans;
to train curriculum teams in the alignment of programmes and QA with EQF standards;
to use European models of Journalism education to inform curriculum reform;
to train academic and professional staff in principles and processes of peer review;
to conduct peer review (including 10 site visits) of all new/revised programmes;
to deliver and evaluate the first year of all new/revised BA and MA programmes;
to produce National Guideline Statements for BA and MA Journalism education;
to maximize public stakeholder engagement and participation in the work of the project;
to deliver and evaluate Outreach Media-Literacy Courses for target groups;
to maximize the sustainability of the work and outputs of the project.

Project Partners and Roles

Partner Number Partner Name Role in Project

P1 Bath Spa University Project Coordinator Work Package Leader WP1 & WP10
P2 Adam Mickiewicz University and Faculty of Political Science and Journalism Work Package Leader WP4
P3 Institute of Art, Design and Technology Work Package Leader WP3
P4 Linnaeus University including FOJO Partner
P5 World University Service Austria Work Package Leader WP7
P6 Ethical Journalism Network Partner
P7 European Journalism Training Association Partner
P8 Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy and The Department of Journalism, Advertising and PR-Technologies Partner
P9 Academician Stepan Demianchuk International University of Economics and Humanities and Faculty of Journalism Partner
P10 Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and Faculty of Journalism Work Package Leader WP9
P11 Mariupol State University and Faculty of Philology and Mass Communications Partner
P12 Sumy State University and Department of Journalism and Philology Work Package Leader WP6
P13 Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and Institute of Journalism Work Package Leader WP2 & WP5
P14 Ukrainian Catholic University and School of Journalism and Communicatons Partner
P15 Uzhhorod National University and Department of Journalism Partner
P16 Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University and Department of Journalism Work Package Leader WP8
P17 Zaporizhzhya National University and Faculty of Journalism Partner
Partner Number Partner Name Role in Project
P18 Ukrainian Association of Students Partner
P19 Hromadske Radio Partner
P20 Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine Partner

Work Packages

WP1 Preparation (Preparation)
WP2 Curriculum audit and action plan (Development)
WP3 European curriculum design: Principles and practices (Development)
WP4 Curriculum models: European models of journalism (Development)
WP5 New / Revised curriculum, evaluation and National Guidelines (Development)
WP6 University outreach online ‘Media Literacy’ courses (Development)
WP7 Quality Management: Monitoring and evaluation (Quality Plan)
WP8 Dissemination and Participation (Dissemination and Exploitation)
WP9 Sustainability Plan (Dissemination and Exploitation)
WP10 Project Management (Management)

Governing Board Members

At the start of the project the Governing Board planned to meet four times throughout the three years of the project. Due to the pandemic, it was decided to meet virtually on a three-monthly basis to ensure that the project could be reviewed and changes actioned quickly as partners respond to the demands put on us by the coronavirus restrictions.

Partner Number Partner Name Governing Board Member

P1 Bath Spa University Ian Gadd
P2 Adam Mickiewicz University Tomasz Brańka
P3 Institute of Art, Design and Technology David Quin
Partner Number Partner Name Governing Board Member
P4 Linnaeus University Veronika Menjoun
P5 World University Service Austria Veronika Nitsche
P6 Ethical Journalism Network Danica Ilic
P7 European Journalism Training Association Nico Drok
P8 Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy Tetiana Bondarenko
P9 Academician Stepan Demianchuk International University of Economics and Humanities Olha Mitchuk
P10 Ivan Franko National University of Lviv Natalia Habor
P11 Mariupol State University Svitlana Bezchotnikova
P12 Sumy State University Olena Tkachenko
P13 Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Volodymyr Rizun
P14 Ukrainian Catholic University Borys Potyatynyk
P15 Uzhhorod National University Yuriy Bidzilya
P16 Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University Roman Paziuk
P17 Zaporizhzhya National University Katerina Sirinyok-Dolgaryova
P18 Ukrainian Association of Students Lidiia Fesenko
P19 Hromadske Radio Tetiana Fedoriv
P20 Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine Kateryna Suprun

This project has been co-funded with support from the European Commission. The website information reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.