Jean Monnet's project on European food safety control in NULES of Ukraine: experience in obtaining and implementing a grant agreement

     Jean Monnet's projects are one of the areas within the EU Erasmus + Program aimed at disseminating the ideas of the United Europe and involving higher education institutions in the study of European integration processes. This International Education Program, founded in 1990, is named after the French businessman and statesman, economist Jean Monnet, the founder and president of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC, 1950), which launched the European Economic Community. cooperation (EEC, 1957), then the European Union (EU).

 
     The main idea of ​​the program is the desire to unite Europe, promote the benefits of European integration, support and development of cooperation, dissemination of European studies in Europe and other continents. The initiative of the grant conditions of the program belongs to the Council of European Universities and teachers from all over the world who conduct research in the field of European integration. Grant funds are earmarked and allocated to universities to start in the educational process of teaching disciplines that are directly related to the development of European law, European economy, education, science, culture, history, theory and practice of European integration. The content of the Jean Monnet European Education Module under the terms of the grant project is to develop and teach specially designed short-term courses on European integration for a certain category of students.
 
     I first got acquainted with the possibilities of the Jean Monnet educational program in 2014 at the information days of the National Erasmus + Office in Ukraine. Then the success of the team from Sumy University became inspiring, which according to the results of the current competition, having submitted 3 applications in the last hours before the end of the project acceptance, received support from the EU. The advantages of this area, I defined for myself the relative "simplicity" of the application, because it can be submitted from one educational institution, and does not require supporting documents from the relevant ministry (Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine), which significantly eliminates bureaucratization of the application process. In addition, projects are selected directly by the European Commission's (Brussels) Department of Education, Audiovisual and Culture on an annual basis, which adds to the objectivity of the selection process and eliminates bias.
 
     The very idea of ​​the module first arose and was designed and submitted to the competition entitled "The EU Official Control of Foodstuffs and Feed" in 2016 under the number 575569-EPP-1-2016-1 -UA-EPPJMO-MODULE and missed 14 points to pass.
 
     After the analysis of shortcomings in February 2017, a draft module for the Erasmus + Jean Monnet program 587548-EPP-1-2017-1-EN-EPPJMO-MODULE “EU Food Safety Control” was prepared and submitted for competition»). The selection procedure lasted more than 5 months and by the end of July the results became known. The project, submitted by the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences, received funding from the European Union. This was the second project from NULES of Ukraine, approved by the European Commission's Department for Education, Audiovisual and Culture. In 2016, the project "Environmental Policy and EU Law" began to be implemented at the Faculty of Law. In 2017, 833 applications were submitted for funding under the program. 138 projects were selected from the Program countries. 10 Ukrainian higher education institutions and one public organization received funding from the European Union for the implementation of 12 projects under the Jean Monnet direction, the total amount of which is about 400,000 Euros.
 
     I was inspired by the idea of ​​creating a project on this topic by working with literache. The book "Fundamentals of food law and EU policy. Ten Years of the European Food Safety Authority (Foundations of EU Food Law and Policy. Ten Years of the European Food Safety Authority) by Alberto Alemanno, a scientist and politician who was awarded the title of Professor Jean Monnet in 2009. and teaches at the Paris School of Business Studies was crucial. I was lucky enough to meet the author at the Jean Monnet Conference 2017 "A turning point for Europe", which took place in Brussels on 27 and 28 November.
 
     By the way, after the invitation to our introductory International scientific-practical conference "Food Safety Control. Ukraine-EU: Unresolved Issues ” of the experts of the EU Project “Improvement of the food safety control system in Ukrain” they started to travel to Ukraine, giving a one-day lecture on European food safety control in various agricultural educational institutions of Ukraine. Of course, the budget of projects such as Jean Monnet and "Improving the food safety control system in Ukraine" cannot be compared. In cooperation with this project, we published a manual "Analysis of microbiological hazards in the food chain" and held a seminar on "A new approach to food safety in the training program of veterinary doctors of Ukrainian free economic zones: problems and challenges" on November 1 and 2, 2018.
Jean Monnet's EU food safety control module aims to promote a better understanding of the EU's food safety assurance system and the objectives of official food control in EU countries, as this system is being introduced in Ukraine and future veterinary professionals studying today should be familiar with these issues. The introduction of such projects contributes to the modernization of curricula, provides students with the knowledge needed in the current labor market in Ukraine.
 
 
     The target audience of the project are students of OS "Master" of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, studying in two specialties - 211 "Veterinary Medicine" and 212 "Veterinary Hygiene, Sanitation and Expertise", which for the third year taught a course of the same discipline.
 
 
     I would like to note that the discipline "EU Food Safety Control" was included in the university-wide list of disciplines of free choice, which now has 107 different disciplines (https://nubip.edu.ua/node/67362). The inclusion of this course in the list of elective disciplines of NULES of Ukraine will achieve its competitiveness through the support of international cooperation in higher education, participation in international educational and research programs, academic mobility programs, international rankings and more.
     The project also plans to hold two "Summer Schools". We implemented one on May 14-16, 2019 on the basis of the state institution Scientific and Methodological Center for Information and Analytical Support of Higher Education Institutions "Agroosvita", involving teachers of vocational education institutions, representatives of the State Food and Consumer Services, NGOs and other EU projects in Ukraine. After graduation, a round table was held to discuss the urgent problems of implementing food control measures in accordance with, harmonized with European, national legislation.
 
 
The second school of the project was scheduled for April 14-16, 2020 on the basis of the Ukrainian Laboratory of Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products, but due to quarantine measures it will have to be postponed. Quarantine has forced a change in teaching approaches. Yes, undergraduate students taking the course this semester are lectured online.
 
     For me personally, this project has become a significant impetus for self-development. In addition to professional development and self-education, I had to master the basics of management and administration. The project allowed me to expand the circle of acquaintances, improve teaching skills, gain new knowledge and experience.
 
Maria Galaburda,
project coordinator,
 
 

 

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