CENTRE FOR INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS


Pavlo Pavlov
head of the Centre for Intercultural Communication and Social Integration of International Students, 3rd-year student, Faculty of Social Communications, Museum and Tourism Activities, majoring in Psychology

Svitlana Sharysheva
assistant head of the Centre for Intercultural Communication and Social Integration of International Students, 4s-year student, Faculty of Social Communications, Museum and Tourism Activities, majoring in Psychology

Angelina Maimetska
secretary of the Centre for Intercultural Communication and Social Integration of International Students, 3rd-year student, Faculty of Music Art, majoring in Pop Singing

The Centre for Intercultural Communication and Social Integration of International Students was established in 2013 under the Student Board of the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture. Its activities are aimed at developing intercultural and professional socialization of international students at this higher education institution.

The programmes of the Centre are developed by joint efforts of student self-government bodies, assistant deans responsible for educational work, student advisors, faculty members, library staff, Ukrainian and international students getting education at the Academy.

The Centre's activities include various socio-cultural events related to the cultural traditions and customs of Ukraine and international students’ home countries:
– literary and artistic events: "Meet Ukraine", "Song traditions of Sloboda Ukraine", "Choreographic motifs of Ukraine";
– theatrical educational events: "Ukrainian Vechornytsi" (traditional Ukrainian mass events, when young people gathered to sing, dance and communicate;
– "Saint Nicholas Day", "Ukrainian Christmas", "Masliana", "Easter in Ukraine";
– sports games: "Cossack fun";
– master classes: "Ukrainian Easter eggs", "Motanka doll", "The wonder world of Ukrainian embroidery", "Opishnia ceramics";
– presentations: "The cuisines of world cultures", "The mysterious world of China", "Unknown Turkey", "Traditions of the Arab world";
– optional classes for learning Chinese, Turkish, Arabic, Azerbaijani languages with participation of international and Ukrainian students, faculty members of the Academy;
– viewing and discussing films on ethnographic subjects;
– lectures and presentations: "Ukrainian folk architecture", "Plant and animal symbols of Ukrainians", "Ukrainian customs and traditions", "Ukrainian oberehy (mascots)";
– lectures and discussions: "Ukrainian dwellings", "Ukrainian traditional dress", "Secrets of Easter eggs", "Culture of peoples of Ukraine";
– workshops: "Artistic traditions of Sloboda Ukraine", " Ukrainian museums", "Cities of Ukraine", "Ukrainian ethnographic visualization", " Ukrainian system of higher education";
– trainings: "Speech etiquette of Ukrainians", "Traditions and rites of the calendar cycle";
– sightseeing tours, visits to museums, theaters, exhibitions, concerts, cultural events, fairs held in the city and region.

An important part of the Centre's activities is familiarizing international students with the structure and traditions of the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture. The event begins with the presentation of the film "Kharkiv State Academy of Culture" (in English, Chinese or Russian). Then students are shown the Academy’s classrooms, laboratories, departments and other structural units.

The participation in the work of the Centre contributes to developing professional creative abilities of international students. Thus, having become interested in Ukrainian cultural customs and traditions, they can:
– create on-screen degree presentations dealing with various aspects of Ukrainian culture;
– develop media presentations of Ukrainian culture in their home countries;
– stage choreographic compositions related to Ukrainian subjects;
– perform works by Ukrainian composers.