DNU Lawyers Spoke at the University of Sussex about Ukraine in the Context of European Law

Specialists from the Faculty of Law of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University visited the University of Sussex. The delegation, led by Dean Olga Sokolenko, joined the activities in the field of European law organized by the British university.

In particular, Olga Sokolenko, Oleksandra Dryhol, Nadiya Maksimentseva and Kateryna Berezhna took part in the Sussex European Institute round table on Ukraine's accession to the EU and a seminar on research cooperation on justice during and after the conflict.

A tour of the University of Sussex was organized for the Ukrainian guests.

“We liked, first of all, the modern and large university library located on the campus, which is bustling with life: students study here and receive literature, including electronic ones”, - our lawyers shared their impressions. – “Everything you need is available on the territory of numerous campuses located nearby. Here you can eat and have fun, in general, live a full life without leaving anywhere. The university has large lecture rooms, with many places to sit, a large screen, a microphone for the teacher and speakers. Our students study through the Microsoft Teams program, and there they use the Canva program. It was unusual for us to see that all students have laptops, no one writes during lectures”.

As part of the visit, formal and informal meetings were held with the leadership of the British university.

“Our cooperation has been going on for a year and a half. Directly during our stay in Britain, the process of agreeing and signing a memorandum between the Faculty of Law of DNU and the School of Law, Sociology and Political Science of the University of Sussex was launched”, – commented Olga Sokolenko.

The co-moderator of the international workshop on Ukraine’s accession to the EU, which was conducted by experts from the Department of Law at the University of Sussex and the Sussex European Institute, was Kateryna Berezhna, Head of the Department of European and International Law. According to her, the field for discussions was much wider than at ordinary international conferences. The participants were interested in practical matters, namely how Ukraine meets the requirements for EU membership according to a list of certain criteria. In her report, Kateryna Berezhna explained in detail how Ukraine’s achievements on this path will be assessed, what recommendations the European Commission still has for improving our legislation, and in which areas we have managed to achieve certain successes. The workshop participants offered their vision of how Ukraine can use the experience of those countries that have already become EU members and that had similar problems to ours at one time – Bulgaria, Romania, Poland. They were also very interested in the issue of joint research on this topic.

Associate Professor of the Department of State and Law, Constitutional Law and Public Administration of DNU Nadezhda Maksimentseva presented her research on the topic “Derogations and War in Ukraine” to her British colleagues.

As part of the visit, DNU lawyers attended a lecture on EU law, which was dedicated to the topic of free movement of workers.

“Lectures there last two hours in real time with video recording, primarily for students with disabilities, so that they can listen to the lecture at any time”, – said Kateryna Berezhna.

Our lawyers noted that during the trip they received a lot of useful information that will help them teach the subjects in a more modern way and conduct joint research on Ukraine’s European integration with British colleagues. It, undoubtedly, will also influence the content of all educational programs of the Faculty of Law of DNU. The gifts brought from the University of Sussex are also very valuable - the most modern textbooks on EU law by leading authors, 2024 edition.

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Дніпровського національного університету