On 28 November 2024, a high-ranking delegation from Kherson, led by Governor Oleksandr Prokudin, visited Kiel. Minister-President Daniel Günther welcomed the delegation for discussions. Following this, the delegation visited the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein and made a stop at Kiel University (CAU).
In addition to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin, the delegation members Mariia Bohodukhova (Head of the Investment and Export Development Office of the regional administration), Dmytro Yunusov (Director of the Department of Agricultural Development and Irrigation), and Oleksandr Tolokonnikov (Head of the Department of Internal and Information Policy) were also guests at CAU in the morning.
Exchange with Kiel University
Vice President for Studies and Teaching, Prof. Dr Markus Hundt, welcomed the guests from Kherson: “It is a great pleasure and honor for us to welcome you here today. Our still young cooperation agreement has developed significantly under very challenging conditions. We look forward to deepening the existing collaboration with Kherson in today’s discussions and exploring new opportunities for cooperation together.”
During the joint meeting, members of the delegation, representatives from Kiel University, Kherson State Agrarian and Economic University (KSAEU), and Science Minister Karin Prien discussed the successful cooperation between Kiel and Kherson to date, as well as research areas with potential for new collaborations. The shared desire for cooperation in agricultural sciences was a central focus. KSAEU’s presentation outlined the university’s agricultural research and its potential contribution to the recovery of the Kherson region.
Collaboration between Kiel and Kherson
Prof. Dr. Kai Carstensen spoke about the academic collaboration between KSAEU and Kiel University: Since 2022, CAU has been supporting its partner university in southeastern Ukraine with digital teaching operations under the challenging conditions of the Russian war of aggression.
The Institute of Statistics and Econometrics at CAU sent DAAD-funded laptops, teaching materials, and videos to the Ukrainian university. More than 130 students from Kherson received scholarships through the initiative to continue their studies locally during the ongoing war, with some also receiving travel and residency scholarships for Kiel.
Prof. Dr. Kai Carstensen, the initiator of the collaboration, stated: “Our vision is to create an international campus where students and faculty from our two universities – and perhaps later from other universities in the SEA-EU Alliance – can work, learn, and exchange ideas together.”
We thank our German hosts and colleagues at Kiel University (CAU) and Kherson State Agrarian and Economic University (KSAEU) for organising this exchange. We are also grateful to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for supporting the wider teaching cooperation through Ukraine Digital.
