The Case of REDU Project: Aligning Results with Displaced Universities’ Needs and the Future of Ukraine

Abstract

This article intends to look into the practice of implementation of the EU project «Reinventing displaced universities: enhancing competitiveness, serving communities» (hereinafter referred to as REDU project) targeting displaced universities from Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as other EU projects, with the purpose to promote the project; draw lessons from project implementation under multiple crises; hypothesize on the future of this and other educational projects during wartime and post-war period in Ukraine; provide recommendations and facilitate national and international discourse on reviewing existing approaches to design and implementation of international projects in the field of higher education. The article provides background information on REDU project and its beneficiaries — displaced universities; outlines changes that took place in internal and external contexts during project lifecycle and amendments that followed; summarises lessons learned from two and a half years of implementation of the REDU project; and develops recommendations on the revision of methodology and approaches to educational project design and implementation. The article argues that international educational projects are and will continue to be powerful tools for higher education modernization, as well as drivers of social transformations. To be effective and resilient during the war, as well as during Ukraine’s post-war recovery and reconstruction, the projects are to become more flexible, allowing for more autonomy in the decision-making by the project team and more diversity with regard to project activities and services, outputs and outcomes, beneficiaries and target groups. While reinstating the need to modify international projects’ design, rules and procedures, the authors argue that Ukrainian HEIs and academic communities themselves should be ready to change and adapt to new circumstances, respect flexibility, practice diversity. Besides, to be able to contribute to national recovery, Ukrainian HEIs should collaborate with a broad circle of partners, review and upgrade their social mission, in collaboration with other HEIs and non-academic partners apply accumulated or generated knowledge, expertise and research capacity for the benefit of their own institution, partners and consortia, communities and nation.