Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden to Ukraine Martin Hagström visited ZNU with working trip
On August 7, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden to Ukraine, Mr. Martin Hagström, visited the Zaporizhzhya National University. During his stay at the university, the honorable guest met with the Head of the Supervisory Board of ZNU Mykola Frolov, представниками адміністрації, викладачами та співробітниками вишу, аби обговорити перспективи розвитку representatives of the administration, lecturers and colleagues to discuss prospects for the development of the Swedish direction of international activity of the University. Also, there was arranged a tour of the educational buildings and the campus of the higher educational institution. In particular, he was able to see the next stage of this year's admissions process at ZNU.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mykola Frolov told the guest about the present state and the prospects of the development of Zaporizhzhya National University. He noted that it is a leading higher educational institution of the Zaporizhzhya region, in which 12 thousand students study, and a team of teachers and employees is about 1300 people. Here at 15 faculties (13 in Zaporizhzhya and two in Melitopol and Kryvyi Rig), train highly skilled specialists in 43 specialties in the bachelor’s degree course and 44 specialties in the master's degree.
Besides, Mykola Frolov emphasized that now the university is developing intensively, and one of the priority directions of work for the ZNU is to establish and strengthen cooperation with foreign higher educational and scientific institutions. Thus, in order to increase the academic mobility of students and teachers at the university, the Concept of Foreign Language Learning has been successfully implemented for the fourth year in a row. So, the students of all specialties learn a foreign language during the undergraduate studies.
Mr. Martin Hagström listened with a great interest about the future plans of the university team on an international cooperation, in particular, a participation in the international grant projects. He commended the successful cooperation of ZNU and Swedish universities. 
So, in 2011, during the implementing of the project of the Ukrainian-Swiss Center "English for Children" at the ZNU, the University of Skövde provided methodological support to our teachers. The cooperation between ZNU and the Lund University (Lund, Sweden) has also been fruitful as part of the implementation of the "Erasmus Humeria" project (2012-2015). In addition, in the period from 2007 to 2016, the scientists of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Administration of ZNU took part in 12 projects from the Swedish Institute (Stockholm, Sweden).
Mr. Ambassador assured that the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden is interested in developing partnership with the countries of Eastern Europe, in particular with Ukraine. In his opinion, the experience of ZNU in participating in joint projects with the Swedish universities gives it an advantage in further international cooperation.
During the meeting the participants discussed joint project activities, academic exchange of students and teachers, and conduction of the international scientific events. Moreover, a proposal was made to organize a large-scale international seminar on the basis of ZNU, similar to the one held at ZNU in May 2017 in co-operation with the scientists from the Narva College of the University of Tartu (Estonia).
In addition, Martin Hagström was interested in teaching Swedish students of the Russian language on the basis of the ZNU Faculty of Philology. Also, the participants of the meeting considered such possible areas of cooperation as work with 
local communities, cooperation with the University's Faculties of Mathematics and Biology, joint research in the field of archeology, etc.
At the end of the meeting, Mykola Frolov assured that one of these days an official letter will be sent to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in Ukraine, in which will be presented all proposals on possible directions of cooperation between ZNU and Swedish universities.
Then, Mykola Frolov handed the honorable guest "Commemorative Book of ZNU", which refered to the past and present of the University. Maksym Lepskyi and Ihor Kudinov gave the guest some scientific publications – the result of fruitful work of the scientists of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Administration.
Mr. Martin Hagström noted the modern equipment, the practical arrangement and the beauty of the campus. He also assured that the ZNU team made a pleasant impression on him. Mr. Ambassador stressed that Sweden is interested in cooperation with Ukraine in the field of education and science. He expressed his hopes for further fruitful cooperation of scientists from the Zaporizhzhya National University with the representatives of the educators of Sweden.
Tamila Tarasenko
