From May 6 to May 10, 2024, Valeriia Cherniakova, Head of the Department of Spanish Language and Specialized Translation, Associate Professor, and PhD in Philology, along with Senior Lecturer Khrystyna Donova, participated in the internship in the format of “The International Training Week” at the Faculty of Philosophy and Languages of UCA, as part of the cooperation between the Odessа Polytechnic National University and the University of Cádiz, Spain (la Universidad de Cádiz – UCA), supported by the ERASMUS+ program, KA171 project.
The invited group of participants consisted from 32 prominent researchers, academic staff, and leaders from 10 universities of Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Mexico, Guatemala, and Côte d'Ivoire.
The internship program, titled “The Spanish Language as a tool of Internationalization for universities: Challenges, Alliances, and Opportunities” aimed at academic exchange of professional skills and to deepen cooperation among academic staff, researchers, and students of the highest educational institutions from participating countries, included the following components:
- Round table "The Spanish Language Centers as means of dissemination of the Andalusian dialect" with participation of the researchers from the Institute of the Hispanic World Study (moderator: Dr. F. Javier de Cos Ruiz);
- Lecture "The varieties of the Spanish Language: the long path to their recognition and consideration" (moderator: Dra. Tereza Bastardin Candon);
- Lecture "The accelerated course in the Andalusian dialect, or how not to feel yourself like a foreigner in Cádiz" (Dr. David Peña Peres);
- Round table "The experience of Internationalization at home" (moderators: Dr. Enrique Durán Guerrero, Dr. Rafael Vélez Núñez).
The academic staff of Odessа Polytechnic National University presented the university's internationalization strategy, the development and the establishment of the Ukrainian-Spanish Institute, significant achievements due to long-term cooperation with partners in Spain, specifically the usage of author’s educational programs and a methodological complex for teaching Spanish from “level 0” to levels B1, B2 for students of technical, economic, and humanitarian specializations.
The Odessа Polytechnic students of the third year of study, Anna Kryvoshei (specializing in "Telecommunications and Radio Engineering") and Anastasia Krasilnikova (specializing in "International Relations, Public Communications, and Regional Studies"), who have been successfully studying at the University of Cádiz since September 2023 under the credit international mobility program, shared with the participants of the “International Training Week” their experience of learning the Spanish language, vivid impressions of being in Andalusia and communication with their Spanish friends.
At the conclusion of the “International Training Week,” all the participants got the certificates of completing the internship and expressed sincere gratitude to the team of the University of Cádiz for their professional organizational work and hospitality.