TNMU Representatives Spoke about the Current Issues and Problems in Higher Education

On December 13, 2023, the non-governmental organization “Smart Media” organized a public discussion in Ternopil on the TV-4 channel on the topic “Rebuilding Ukraine: can the voice of the youth be heard?”. The delegation of Ternopil National Medical University took part in this event, consisting of the Vice-Rector for Science and Education, Professor Arkadii Shulhai, Head of the Department of General Chemistry, Associate Professor Hryhoriy Zahrychuk, Head of the Academic Office, Associate Professor Andrii Mashtalir, 5th-year student, Head of the Student Parliament Maksym Levytskyi, 4th-year student Viktoria Miroshnyk and 3rd-year student Sofia Berehuliak.

The Vice-Rector for Science and Education, Professor Arkadii Shulhai, together with the Rector of Volodymyr Hnatiuk Ternopil National Pedagogical University, Professor Bogdan Buyak, the Vice-Rector for Science of West Ukrainian National University, Professor Mykola Dyvak, the Head of the Department of Family, Youth Policy and Child Protection Nazarii Melnychuk and the Head of the “Indomitable Youth: Youth Councils” program, which is implemented by the Ukrainian Association of Youth Councils with the support of the International Republican Institute, Lesia Holoiad took part in the discussion of a number of issues related to the functioning of higher education institutions in wartime conditions. During the discussion, the participants talked about the problems of reconstruction, realizing the potential of youth, employment issues, and also about the challenges of higher education in the conditions of war, they paid specific attention to the interest and preservation of student potential in our city, the popularization of Ternopil as the youth capital of Ukraine.

Arkadii Shulhai drew the attention of the audience to the psycho-emotional status of students: “Twenty-five percent of students note the presence of signs of depression, thirty-one percent – signs of anxiety, twenty-eight percent – signs of stress”. In addition, the Vice-Rector emphasized that students are showing signs of burnout, that is, emotional exhaustion. Noting that about sixty percent have emotional exhaustion, educational institutions should pay attention to this problem.

Arkadii Shulhai, together with Mykola Dyvak, talked about the cooperation of the two higher education institutions in the field of virtual reality, where with the help of the only impressive multifunctional hub in Ukraine, which started its work on the basis of WUNU, cooperation in the field of physical rehabilitation of our soldiers with disorders of the musculoskeletal system will soon begin.