JOURNALISM EDUCATION FOR DEMOCRACY IN UKRAINE: DEVELOPING STANDARDS, INTEGRITY, AND PROFESSIONALISM

598964-EPP-1-2018-1-UK-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP

Project acronym: DESTIN

National Joint Project

Priority – Higher Education and Society

Project duration: 15 November 2018 – 14 November 2021

EU funding instrument: European Neighbourhood Instrument (Erasmus+: КА2 CBHE)

Erasmus+ (CBHE) grant  amount: 798 470.00 €

Target groups: Ukraine and EU Universities, university students, secondary schools, employers i.e. Journalism staff teams, media managers, lifelong learning.

Official web-site of the project: http://www.destin-project.info

Project goals:

A1. 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: 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.

Activities:

The DESTIN project will be conducted through many kinds of activities: from confidential discussions with an external stakeholder and analysis of anonymised student opinion too large public conferences and open online discussion forums.  All of the tools and methodologies employed are tried and tested means of educational management, staff and student development, and ethical change management in general. The style of ‘presentations’ may occasionally appear didactic (depending on the presenter) but the pedagogical design and ethos for conferences, meetings etc. will be inclusive and interactive (as in the spirit of SCL).

Expected results:

– Qualitative changes in the development of journalism education in Ukraine through an audit, assessment, review of existing and delivering of new or revised curricula for 9 BA and 11 MA Journalism programmes in 10 Ukrainian universities with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and European standards of integrity and professionalism.
– Development of National Guideline Statements for BA and MA journalism education in Ukraine.
– Creation of interaction and cooperation network between universities, national employers and students self-government in the field of journalism education in Ukraine.
– Creation of interaction and cooperation network between Ukraine and EU universities and professional organizations in the field of journalism education.
– Development of Media-Literacy Online Courses for non-professionals target groups in the field of journalism, media and communications.
– Creation and launching of specialized website for further dissemination and exploitation of DESTIN project results.

Project consortium:

United Kingdom

Bath Spa University (Grant holder)

Poland

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan

Ireland

Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology

Sweden

Linnaeus University

Austria

World University Service

The Netherlands

European Journalism Training Association

Ukraine

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Project coordinator in Ukraine)
Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy
Academician Stepan Demianchuk International University of Economics and Humanities
Ivan Franko National University of Lviv
Mariupol State University
Sumy State University
Ukrainian Catholic University
Uzhhorod National University
Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University
Zaporizhzhia National University
NGO «Ukrainian Association of Students»
PO «Hromadkse Radio»
Ministry of Education and Science

Grant holder:

Bath Spa University, United Kingdom

Coordinator and General Manager:
Prof. Paul Hyland, Head of European and Postgraduate Taught Development

Contacts: tel: +44 (0)1225 875564, email: p.hyland@bathspa.ac.uk

Project coordinator in Ukraine: