Roman Nesterenko, a representative of the Ukrainian Engineering Pedagogics Academy, Head of the Permanent Working Group on Internationalization and Project Activities of UEPA, senior lecturer at the Department of Pedagogy, Methodology and Management of Education, took part in a week-long study visit to develop a scenario and methodology for conducting focus groups using Lego Serious Play technology at the University of Bedfordshire Business School (Luton, UK).
The visit took place as part of the project “A Career Roadma[ for Women Leadership in Higher Education in Ukraine” within the British Council`s gender equality project program.
During the visit, representatives of the project`s Ukrainian partner HEIs, Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics and Ukrainian Engineering Pedagogics Academy, under the mentorship of the project coordinator Dr. Christina Schwabenland, DBA program manager, lecturer in organizational behaviour and director of the Center for Leadership Innovation, and Professor Dr. Alexander Kofinas, Head of the University of Bedfordshire Business School, and assistant Winifred Sorybe, were trained in workshop facilitation based on the Lego Serious Play methodology.
Also during the visit, with the support of the Research Impact Generator accelerator, a seminar was held on implementing gender equality, diversity, and inclusion approaches in the curricula of universities and business schools.
In addition to the intense and practice-oriented training, fruitful meeting were held with other representatives of the University of Bedfordshire Business School, namely with the Dean, Professor Chris Marshall, Professor Yanqing Duan, Director of the Business and Management Research Institute (BRMI), Associate Professor Yongmei Bentley, and practicing teacher Patricia Wilson.
The project “Roadmap for the Career Development of Women Leaders in Higher Education in Ukraine” is being implemented by a consortium consisting of: University of Bedfordshire (Luton, UK), Simon Kuznets KhNUE, UEPA, and “Innovation Generation” NGO (Kharkiv) within the British Council`s Going Global Partnerships gender equality project program.
The program is designed to help higher education institutions and non-profit research organizations in the UK and Ukraine launch systemic changes to overcome the problem of underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in higher education.
