Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program begins 13th year
TORONTO - The 13th Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program (CUUP) internship program in the Canadian Parliament began on April 30, with the arrival in Canada of 24 university students from Ukraine. Each of the participants has been assigned to work with the staff of a member of the House of Commons in Ottawa and, during their stay in Canada, participate in community events, perform 60 hours of volunteer work, complete assignments from his/her university and member of Parliament, and publish several editions of a Newsletter for distribution to all members of Parliament, the diplomatic community in Ottawa and the Ukrainian community.
In addition to English and French, other languages spoken by the students are, German, Italian, Tatar, Arabic, Slovak, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese.
The 24 students come from universities of Kyiv, Lviv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, as well as Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Crimean Institute-Sevastopol, Ostroh Academy, Danylo Halytsky Medical University, Jaroslav the Wise Law Academy in Kharkiv, National Aviation University, Lviv Polytechnic Institute, International Christian University, Ternopil Academy of National Economy, and Lesia Ukrainka Volyn University.
Since 1990, over 300 university students from Ukraine have travelled to Canada to participate in the internship program. In the Canadian Parliament there are comparable programs for university students from the United States and the United Kingdom.
Graduates of past CUPP programs are now diplomats in the Ukrainian Foreign Service, professors at universities, advisers in Ukraine and abroad to financial institutions and multinational corporations, assistants to members of the Verkhovna Rada as well as a deputy mayor and several councilors of municipal governments.
In an interview with Radio Canada International, CUPP Director Ihor Bardyn stated that the benefits and results of the participation of the university students from Ukraine in this unique program in Canada will hopefully begin to emerge in the next decade, when some of the graduates move into positions of responsibility in their homeland.
Information about the program and applications for the program may be obtained online at www.katedra.org.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 25, 2003, No. 21, Vol. LXXI
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