Valeriya Voloshyn, a student at the Faculty of Psychology, Pedagogy and Social Work, shares her impressions of her semester study under the Erasmus+ program:
“I am a master’s student majoring in Social Work. Last semester, I was a participant in the Erasmus+ academic mobility program. Thanks to Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University in Drogobitsk, I had the opportunity to study at VIVES University of Applied Sciences (Belgium). Studying abroad opened many opportunities for self-improvement, development, and acquisition of new knowledge and experience.
I studied at the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences (Kortrijk, West Flanders province) under the S.P.A.C.E. program. (Social Pedagogical Art and Creativity Exploration). We stayed at a comfortable hostel located in a quiet part of the city.
The S.P.A.C.E. program, aimed to combine art and creativity in a social setting, is designed for both foreign and Belgian students. It explores how art and creativity are applied in social/pedagogical settings and how the arts sector focuses on target groups: art studios with people with disabilities, social art work in neighborhoods, creative youth work and outsider art. All training is in English, which gives an opportunity to significantly improve your language level.
For three months, I studied with the students who come from almost all corners of the world (Japan, Austria, Poland, Finland, USA, Spain etc.). They are open in communication and actively interested in learning. This gave additional incentives to work together. We developed such a good relationship that even after the end of the program we still continue to communicate. And in my free time from studying, I traveled with great enthusiasm around Belgium, visited Germany, France and the Netherlands.
I express my sincere gratitude to everyone who was responsible for organizing my mobility, especially to the former Dean Ihor Hrynyk, the Department of Social Pedagogy and Correctional Education, the Department of International Relations for their active support and help. I am convinced that every student who plans mobility can expect that they will get the best experience and have an amazing time in the very friendly atmosphere of VIVES University during the academic semester.”
Valeriya Voloshyn, student, Group SR-11 M
