Professor Maryna VASYLIEVA, Deputy Director of the Education and Research Institute “Ukrainian Engineering and Pedagogical Academy” at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, paid a working visit to the University of Bedfordshire (Luton, United Kingdom) as part of the project “From Career Roadmap to Career Boardmap: Building Institutional Support for Women Leaders in Academia in Ukraine”, which is being implemented with the support of the British Council’s Going Global Partnerships programme.
Project consortium: University of Bedfordshire (Luton, UK), Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, and the “Innovation Generation” NGO (INNOGEN).
The working visit, which took place from 8 to 15 April 2026, was aimed at exchanging experiences, transferring knowledge and building the capacity of the partner teams. During the meetings, participants discussed current challenges in ensuring gender equality in higher education, mechanisms for supporting women’s professional development, and opportunities for strengthening international cooperation between universities.
One of the key outcomes of the visit was the joint development of a concept for a board game dedicated to institutional support for women leaders in higher education. The idea behind the game involves simulating real-life career challenges, developing leadership skills, strategic thinking and decision-making abilities, and identifying effective ways to support women at different stages of their professional development.
The project was a logical continuation of the international team’s previous work on a career development roadmap for women in higher education, designed to support professional growth, empower women and create a level playing field for career progression.
The visit also included meetings with representatives of gender centres at UK universities, during which successful practices in institutional support for women leaders, mentoring models, academic leadership development programmes and equal opportunities policies were presented. The experience gained will serve as an important resource for the future implementation of similar initiatives in Ukrainian higher education institutions.
The participants paid particular attention to the presentation of the research findings on the impact of the developed training materials on the focus group participants. The findings presented were well received by the international partners and formed the basis for the next stages of the project’s implementation.
The participation of representatives from Karazin University in international initiatives helps to strengthen partnerships, facilitate integration into the European Higher Education Area, and introduce modern approaches to creating an inclusive, equitable and innovative academic environment.
