Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear international students and UCU valued Partners,
We understand that due to the pandemic of COVID-19, you have a few questions regarding the organization of the upcoming academic year at Ukrainian Catholic University. Despite the fact, the epidemiological situation in Ukraine is still a bit unclear, the UCU administration is currently doing everything we can to make the Fall semester as safe as possible. We understand that within the quarantine regulations we will have to restrict teaching in large auditoria, the format of public and guest lecturing, travelling may still be complicated, and the academic experience of students and staff will certainly be different. We do realise that for student’s safety the best way is to stay online as long as possible, and this format of learning should be considered as a basic scenario for UCU students, staff and faculty members. At the same time, in order to preserve and develop the sense of UCU community as well as to get acquainted our new students with normal UCU studying process, we want to make the upcoming semester as much an on-campus experience as possible.
Academic calendar and start of the Fall semester 2020-2021
UCU will use step by step approach returning back on campus. We will start the Fall semester at:
- 10th August for students of 2nd (MA) year of studying, having classes on campus until 26th September and finishing semester online on 28th November.
- 17th August for students of 3rd and 4th (BA) year of studying, having two weeks of asynchronous classes online. Since August 31st students will have classes on campus until 26th September and finishing semester online on 4th December.
- 14th September for students of 1st and 2nd (BA) and 1st (MA) year of studying, having online classes until 2nd October, following classes on campus from 5th October till 28th November. The final 4 weeks of studies in December UCU students will spend online.
In order to decrease the number of classes in Wintertime, the UCU administration decided to make Saturday part of the studying week; thus, Tuesday and Saturday will be days of elective courses and disciplines of specialisation. Information about the courses and the format of studying on a particular educational program (EPE, History, Theology and Philosophy, etc.) will be announced after the approval of the schedule for the Fall semester.
Although we will try to save most courses in the non-online regime, each student and faculty member can choose a convenient for him/her format of work. The same applies to the starting date of the academic year, if the student cannot travel to Ukraine in time, it is allowed to start his or her UCU education from a distance by contacting with your educational program director or with UCU International Academic Relations Office (international@ucu.edu.ua).
Incoming and outgoing mobility
Internationalization is fundamental for our institution and therefore UCU plans for next year are based on maintaining international mobility activities as much as possible while adapting them to the current circumstances, keeping health measures and safety of international and Ukrainian students as the centre of all actions.
UCU has taken the decision to continue with incoming long-term (semester) student exchange programmes under Erasmus+, bilateral, multilateral and self-funded programmes as long as our international guests follow UCU health and safety rules and are ready to adapt the circumstances:
- UCU campus life and access to facilities (library, UCU Trapezna etc) will not be the same as in normal circumstances;
- UCU cannot rule out that a temporary lockdown might be necessary at some point during Fall semester 2020-2021 if the epidemiological situation goes worse. Our university is ready to go 100% online again if required by the authorities and circumstances;
- Due to some restrictions in the number of seats in classrooms and social distancing, registration in certain courses may not always be guaranteed. Students must be flexible in their choice of courses and have an alternative list or to be ready to follow the course online if necessary.
As long as the partner institution agrees, our intention is to keep outgoing long-term mobilities as much as possible, including mobilities starting in August-October. We will closely monitor the situation with each Partner and follow all sanitary recommendations and guidelines. When necessary, we will accept mobilities starting in virtual mode, with physical mobility starting later on during the semester.
Due to the State of Alarm declared by the Ukrainian Government, UCU recommends to suspend all the short term (less than three weeks) incoming and outgoing physical student/teaching/staff mobility exchange for the academic year 2020 – 2021 (study tours, Erasmus+ teaching/training, seasonal schools, short-term internships). If and when new information may lead to a different risk assessment regarding mobility and/or the pandemic, this decision will be revisited.
UCU International Office is doing its best to make sure to support and communicate to our Partners as much as possible, but due to the situation changing very fast please also make sure to keep an eye on the latest developments here in Ukraine (especially the travel advice), in the host country and at the partner university.
Current situation of COVID-19 in Ukraine
Ukrainian authorities are continuously monitoring the current situation with the spread of coronavirus in Ukraine and in Lviv in particular and will put in place new measures if the number of new cases rises above a certain threshold. Social distancing rules for public spaces, the obligation to wear a mask in public transportation are in effect and will likely be a part of daily life for months to come. Please visit the websites of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for further information: https://covid19.gov.ua/en
Travelling to Ukraine
On the VISIT Ukraine website, you can find useful and practical information for foreigners who plan to visit Ukraine in the near future. The web page provides the necessary and most relevant information on:
- rules for crossing the Ukrainian border
- list of “green zone” and “red zone” countries
- rules of adaptation of quarantine, observation/self-isolation
- rules of conduct at airports
- advice on how to behave in public spaces
- assisting in the installation, authorization and use of the mobile application “Act at home”.
UCU will accurately follow official instructions and regulations regarding the travel and safety procedures.
Please follow this link to see information on Ukraine’s long term visas, visa legislation and application procedure. If you have any concerns about the situation or need any help or advice, please contact the UCU International Academic Relations Office via international@ucu.edu.ua or our FB page.
Here you can read more information on how Ukrainian Catholic University is functioning during the lockdown. We are glad to share our experience on how UCU organizes its work online to achieve the same quality education and still offer community experience and opportunity for the integral human development of UCU students.