The University of Nottingham has twinned with a Ukrainian university to offer a joint master's degree programme that will improve Humanities teaching, knowledge and research in Ukraine.
The Dual History Master's Program is a collaboration between the University of Nottingham and the Ukrainian Catholic University. The twinning has been arranged by Cormack Consultancy Group, and it is one of just six partnerships between universities in the UK and Ukraine.
The partnerships have been created in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has put significant pressure on its Higher Education sector. Many universities have been attacked and thousands of students and staff have been displaced. The conflict has also created a need for new approaches to teaching in the country due to increasing amounts of Russian propaganda and the manipulation of historical narratives.
The twinning programme between the University of Nottingham and the Ukrainian Catholic University will, therefore, be a new step in rethinking the field of Humanities as a foundation of Ukrainian soft power and societal resilience. It will build the necessary framework for social reconstruction and resolve the current crisis caused by the isolation of separate branches of knowledge and the persisting impact of Russian-Soviet narratives. The course will focus on themes of heritage, memory and identity, and it will help students to understand Ukraine as it is now.
We're delighted to have been chosen as one of just six UK universities to take part in this pilot twinning scheme and we recognise the importance of the role we now have in shaping future Ukrainian humanitarian graduates. The Humanities help us to understand human identity, culture and how our history connects to our future. This course will combine theoretical and practical learning to support humanities graduates who will lead Ukraine's social transformation.
Professor Jonathan Tallant, Head of the School of Humanities at the University of Nottingham added: "All of our Humanities disciplines offer insight into the most significant aspects of human life: birth, love and death, questions of ethics and problems of knowledge and evidence, the relation of our future to our past, and the individual's place in society and the world. These themes are pivotal in helping our graduates shape and navigate the world around them."
The Department of History, that will be leading the Nottingham side of the degree, has particular research expertise in the study of culture, society, politics, race, gender relations and international affairs. Staff in the Department and School are thrilled at the opportunity to collaborate with our Ukrainian colleagues on this exciting venture.
Collaborative research workshops will also give academics at both universities an opportunity to discuss their research and develop further ideas on four research themes; War and Resilience, Religion and War, Moral and Legal Considerations of Wartime Actors and Integral Human Development and Post-Conflict Reconstruction. It's also hoped that the partnership will lead to visiting professorships, research internships and academic discussion forums.
The MA programme will launch this September. The first intake will be from Ukrainian students only, however, upon successful state accreditation in Ukraine, the programme will be offered to international students in future years.
