Ukraine's ambassador to Canada visits University of Alberta (09/15/96)

Ukraine's ambassador to Canada visits University of Alberta

by Halyna Klid

EDMONTON - Volodymyr Furkalo, Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, was recently a guest of the University of Alberta. Accompanied by the Embassy's first secretary for science and technology, Borys Poliachenko, Ambassador Furkalo visited the campus to acquaint himself with university units that co-operate or maintain academic ties with Ukraine.

Ambassador Furkalo met with Dr. Martha Piper, university vice-president (research and external affairs), and Dr. Allan Tupper, associate vice-president (government relations). (University President Dr. Roderick Fraser was out of town at the time.)

Also taking part in the meeting were Dr. Zenon Kohut, director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), and James D. Jacuta, executive director of the Canadian-Ukrainian Legislative Education Project at CIUS.

In conversation with the ambassador, Dr. Piper stressed that the University of Alberta's position of leadership in Ukrainian studies in North America was due in no small measure to cooperation with Ukraine's academic institutions since the attainment of Ukrainian independence. This has led to the development of official and unofficial academic relations, and to the initiation of exchanges of professors and students.

Dr. Piper maintained that such cooperation is vital to the development of Ukraine's academic infrastructure. She made particular mention of four university units: CIUS, which marked its 20th anniversary in July; the Osvita Medical Project, which assists in the education of Ukrainian doctors and thereby helps improve health care for mothers and children in Ukraine; the Legal Training Project, which seeks to modernize legal education in Ukraine; and the Canadian-Ukrainian Legislative Education Project, which was recently undertaken at CIUS.

Ambassador Furkalo expressed his appreciation of the opportunity to visit the University of Alberta and acquaint himself with its activities. He noted that an important goal of Ukrainian government policy is to ensure close cooperation with Canada's university system.

His visit to Alberta was one of the first steps toward the implementation of the Embassy's new strategy of establishing direct contacts at the provincial and oblast level, including cooperation among universities. Relations with the province of Saskatchewan have been established as a result of Premier Roy Romanow's visit to Ukraine, and Ambassador Furkalo said he expects that similar cooperation can be developed with other parts of Canada, most notably with the Western provinces, whose potential is only beginning to be appreciated in Ukraine.

The ambassador said he has great expectations of useful cooperation with Alberta, which, like Ukraine, has a large agricultural sector and well-developed oil, forest and high-technology industries. Since both Ukraine and Alberta have extensive networks of higher educational institutions, there are good grounds for long-term mutually beneficial cooperation.

As examples of such cooperation, Ambassador Furkalo noted the ties already established between the University of Alberta and the universities of Chernivtsi and Lviv, as well as the University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and the work that CIUS is doing in Ukraine.

The ambassador said he expressed his appreciation of the institute's accomplishments, citing it as one of the centers that has developed Ukrainian studies as a discipline.

Moreover, the University of Alberta, a leader in the humanities and in the sciences, can greatly assist Ukraine in the development of its academic contacts and research programs. The ambassador presented Dr. Piper with letters from the Ukrainian government proposing joint efforts in a number of areas that can serve as a basis for future cooperation.

After their meeting with Dr. Piper, who noted with satisfaction the new and active role of Ukraine's Embassy in Canada with regard to cooperation, Ambassador Furkalo and Mr. Poliachenko met with directors of university units that maintain academic contacts with Ukraine.

The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, established in 1976, is the initiator and leader in the development of the University of Alberta's contacts with Ukraine.

The institute consists of a number of autonomous units, each with its own specific program or project: CIUS Press, the Stasiuk Program for the Study of Contemporary Ukraine, the Ukrainian Church Studies Program, the Ukrainian Language Education Center, the Peter Jacyk Center for Ukrainian Historical Research, the Encyclopedia of Ukraine Project Office, the Journal of Ukrainian Studies and the Ukrainian Canadian Program.

CIUS carries on research in Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian studies, publishes academic monographs and a journal, develops educational materials for language instruction in bilingual schools, organizes seminars and conferences, and awards fellowships to students and established researchers.

The Osvita Medical Project, which began in 1992 as the Chornobyl's Children Project, was conceived as an educational program for pediatricians. In 1994, with additional funding of more than $2 million from the Canadian government, it expanded its activity, providing courses for midwives, gynecologists and specialists in infant care. Project results will be assessed following its completion in 1997.

Canadian volunteers completed 150 educational missions in 12 major Ukrainian cities, from Lviv in the west to Donetske in the east, as well as on the Crimean peninsula. Fifty-eight selected specialists from various regions of Ukraine participated in four-month training sessions in Canada.

More than 25 medical laboratory specialists and technicians learned to use and service diagnostic equipment installed in clinics participating in the Osvita project. More than 200 Ukrainian doctors learned English as a second language under the project's auspices, and thousands of kilograms of medical textbooks, journals, computers and other equipment were donated to the Ukrainian National Medical Library. (The Canadian government provided more than $3 million for both these projects, and substantial private donations were received as well.)

The Legal Training Project, conducted by the University of Alberta Law Faculty, began its activities in August 1995. Under the auspices of this project, which is to last three years and four months, 18 law instructors from Ukraine will take eight-month courses in Western legal theory and practice, teaching methods and materials at the University of Alberta (Edmonton), McGill University (Montreal) and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University (Toronto).

It is expected that 18 new law courses adapted to Ukraine's needs will be developed as a result of the project, which has received $2.45 million in funding, half of which was provided by the Canadian International Development Agency.

The Canadian-Ukrainian Legislative Education Project, which began operations in April 1996 under the auspices of CIUS, will bring 120 Ukrainian legislators, civil servants and assistants, experts and local government officials to Canada. During the project's three-and-a-half-year term, educational programs will be organized in six of Ukraine's priority areas, resulting in the preparation of legislative reform packages. This project, supported by the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, has $4 million in funding, of which $2.2 million is being provided by the Canadian government.

The Division of Slavic and East European Studies at the University of Alberta is western Canada's leading center for the study of the Ukrainian, Russian and Polish languages and literatures, and is the academic home of the unique Huculak Chair of Ukrainian Culture and Ethnography. Besides Canada and the U.S., students come from Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Belarus, Bulgaria, England, Germany, Korea, Ghana and the former Yugoslavia.

Two externally funded Slavic studies journals are published by the division, and a computerized language-instruction program is being developed. The division is the first humanities unit at the University of Alberta to initiate video distance instruction and examination.

At his meeting with the directors of these units, Ambassador Furkalo recalled President Leonid Kuchma's statement that financial and intellectual investments in Ukraine, as well as political and moral support for the country, are investments in the stability of Europe and the world as a whole. Thus, all assistance rendered to Ukraine in this difficult transitional period is extraordinarily valuable.

He underlined that the University of Alberta, which has initiated so many important aid projects to Ukraine, and whose strong ties with Ukraine are helping to improve the country's educational level, as well as to revive its cultural and scientific traditions, deserves the highest praise. On behalf of the government of Ukraine, Ambassador Furkalo thanked all present and promised the support of his Embassy in all university activity related to Ukraine.