On March 21–23, 2023, a series of open online lectures by teachers from leading European universities was held within the framework of the project «Digitalization of economic as an element of sustainable development of Ukraine and Tajikistan» (DigEco) 618270-EPP-1-2020-1-LT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP. Scientific and pedagogical workers, students of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Economics actively participated in the events.
On March 21, Mykolas Romeris University (Lithuania) representatives shared their knowledge with those present. In particular, Doctor of Social Sciences, Marius Laurinaitis held a lecture on «Open data. Regulation and practice». During the lecture he revealed the content, features and levels of open data, the specifics of their use in business process management, publicly available sources of open information. Member of the Union of Young Scientists of the University, Saulius Kromalcas, spoke about effective external communication in social networks as an element of digital marketing in action. At the professional level, lecturer highlighted current trends of business promotion through social networks, outlined the importance of understanding and researching the target audience. He substantiated the channels for the implementation of business projects and the possibility of creating competitive advantages in the market. The most effective strategies and tactics of market communication had been identified.
After his lectures, Saulius Kromalcas wrote: «It was a pleasure for me to meet your students! I’m very glad to share my experience and would be proud if students use this information in their work experience. Good luck to you all».
On March 22-23, professor of Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany) Marina Tropmann-Frick and associate professor of the University of Maribor (Slovenia) Boshtian Brumen shared their experience and knowledge in the field of big data with Ukrainian scientific and educational community. In particular, experts revealed the theoretical content and characteristics of big data, identified their types, features of their management systems, specifics of visualization, etc. The material on the analysis of big data for marketing, its implementation methods and techniques for results visualizing were interesting, informative and practical.
During the meetings, the participants received new professional knowledge, valuable material, unforgettable experience and good impressions. In turn, they provided positive feedback to the European lecturers. In particular, students of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Economics shared their impressions of the lectures:
«I was happy to join the open lectures from European teachers, because adopting the best foreign experience is an important step in professional development. The presented material was informative and completely understandable. As I am currently studying the discipline «Analysis of big data and business analytics», which is implemented within the DigEco project, I noted the information about the forms and tools of visual analytics (e.g., WebGL Visualization), techniques and platforms for analyzing big data and modeling results (e.g., matlab, knime, anaconda)» (student of the second (master’s) level of higher education, specialty 051 Economics, Ruslana Pidopryhora).
«I gladly listened to all lectures from European teachers within the DigEco project. I am a student of the specialty 076 Entrepreneurship and trade, so the workshop by Mr. Saulius Kromalcas on the importance and specifics of using social networks in modern business was especially interesting and informative for me. The most memorable information to me were approaches to determining the potential target audience of business and the criteria for its analysis, the method of communication plan development in social media and the emphasis on the importance of choosing the right content of advertising messages» －(student of the first (bachelor) level of higher education, specialty 076 Entrepreneurship and trade, Yuliia Turun).
«I received an extremely positive impression from the lectures of European teachers. The material was interesting, modern, practical. I noted an information about the European open data platform – European Data Portal e–learning program, so that I will further develop my knowledge about open data and the possibilities of using it in professional activities» (student of the first (bachelor) level of higher education, specialty 051 Economics, Vadym Danyliuk).
Students and scientific and pedagogical workers of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics also joined the online meetings. The lectures were educational, interesting and informative. This is a good opportunity for our students to gain experience in English communication and new necessary knowledge on the topics: «Open data. Regulation/Practice», «Big data management». The lecturers gave examples from their own life experience, maintained the audience’s interest throughout the lecture.
At the end of the meeting, the audience asked a number of questions, and the lecturers were happy to answer them. We are convinced that such lectures help future specialists gain confidence and expand the spectrum of their knowledge.
We thank European partners for their experience, support and contribution to the development of Ukrainian professional education. We hope for further cooperation!
Tetiana Bodnarchuk, Deputy Dean of Faculty of Natural Sciences and Economics for Scientific Work and International Cooperation, Kateryna Heseleva, Deputy Dean of Faculty of Physics and Mathematics for Research and International Relations