On the 2nd of September an informational session on educational opportunities for municipalities was held by the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in Poltava Oblast and Poltava State Agrarian University. The event brought together senior municipal officials, their deputies and heads of structural units from Poltava Oblast.
The speakers included Oleksandr Halych, the President of Poltava State Agrarian University; Viktoriia Medvid, the Head of Department for Economics and Public Administration of the University and the Head of the Municipal Development Platform NGO; as well as Oleksandr Dorofieiev, Professor at the abovementioned department.
Participants learned about modern programmes and practical formats of cooperation with Poltava State Agrarian University, from training for managers and Master’s programmes to short-term training courses in project management, public investment management, strategic planning and digitalisation.
Poltava State Agrarian University is among the leading educational institutions in the region and Ukraine as a whole. For over 105 years, they have been training future professionals to develop the agricultural sector and municipalities. The university ranks 23rd among 320 Ukrainian universities in terms of the success rate of accreditation of educational courses.
Today, not only does the university teach students, it also cooperates with municipalities. For instance, from 2023 to 2025, the university partnered up a number of municipalities of Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk and Sumy Oblasts to design strategic, policy and forecast documents for the development of territories, as well as conducted some strategic environmental assessments in the municipalities of Poltava, Odesa, Chernihiv and Sumy Oblasts. These efforts help municipalities make informed decisions and lay the groundwork for attracting investment and international support.
Iryna Balybina, the Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in Poltava Oblast, emphasised the importance of partnerships between municipalities and educational institutions:
“We live in the times when you cannot grow without partnerships. No municipality, university or programme can solve all its challenges on its own. But when we join forces — municipalities, educational institutions, expert organisations — to create synergy that opens up completely new opportunities. Our partner, Poltava State Agrarian University, has a special role in this process. Not only is it a great educational institution, but also a true intellectual powerhouse in Poltava Oblast. Its educational programmes, scientific developments, international partnerships help municipalities find new ways of development and support students in becoming leaders capable of changing their localities.”
The event served as a platform for a dialogue among municipalities and the university, provided participants with information on capacity building and shaped a vision of education as a driver of strategic change in municipalities.
