Viktoriia Sichak: ‘How to study political science at two universities’
My summer semester of study is at the University of Presov (Slovakia), where I am part of an academic mobility programme supported by the Erasmus+ programme.The Department of Political Science and Public Administration of Uzhhorod National University, where I am studying for a master's degree in political science, also has student mobility agreements with the University of Zagreb (Croatia), the University of Hradec Králové (Czech Republic), and a double-degree programme with Alexander Dubcek University in Trencin (Slovak Republic).This is my first experience of participating in this programme and I am very happy to have passed the competition and been selected to study abroad for three months.The University of Prešov (Prešovska univerzita v Prešove) is one of the leading universities in Slovakia, which plays an important role in the development of Ukrainian culture, as the region around this city is densely populated by the Ukrainian minority.
The university has a department of Ukrainian language and culture, which also studies Ukrainian literature and history. This institution actively cooperates with the Uzhhorod National University, in particular in the areas of education, science and innovation, and cultural exchange. The city of Prešov is a student town with a lot of young people, including Ukrainian students (over 1,000 people), who study in various programmes. They are always ready to help in case of any problems, so I feel almost at home.
In Slovakia, I study the same speciality and educational and professional programme as in UzhNU - Political Science. That is why it is very interesting for me to compare studies in Ukraine and the neighbouring country, as well as the content of academic disciplines. They are similar in content to those we studied in the first semester or are studying now at Uzhhorod National University. For example, this semester in Presov I am studying International Politics, Theory of Democracy, Foreign Policy of the Slovak Republic, Border Studies, and Democracy in the Context of Globalisation.
The educational process takes place in a face-to-face format, which creates an opportunity for discussions on current events in the world and an assessment of political development in Slovakia. Much attention is paid to the analysis of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the support of Slovak teachers and students of our country is noticeable. The course is bilingual - Slovak and English - so it is a great opportunity to improve your language skills.
In addition to interesting studies, the Erasmus+ programme is also about meeting new people. In Presov, I met students from different countries: Turkey, Iran, Albania, Spain, Germany, Azerbaijan, France, Uzbekistan and the Czech Republic. Some of them became very close friends for me in this short period of time: we travelled a lot together in Slovakia and other European countries. We also organised cultural events where we cooked traditional dishes from each country and many more interesting events that I will definitely remember!
In fact, I am very grateful to the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Department of International Relations for the opportunity to become a participant in the academic exchange. I am happy that in Slovakia I was greeted very warmly and I felt the help with all the questions from the teachers and Erasmus+ coordinators.
Therefore, if you have the opportunity to study under this programme, I definitely recommend that you try it and live your student years brightly and with benefit!
