In autumn 2022, the Department of Germanic Philology joined the international grant project "Ukraine Digital: Ensuring Academic Success in Times of Crisis", funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The project aim is to support Ukrainian lecturers and students during the crisis we all experience.

With the 2023 project extension, translation students will once again get the opportunity to obtain practical training provided by best lecturers from the partner University of Duisburg-Essen. In October 2023, the traditional online meeting of the 1st year students-translators was held with Dr. Iris Bäcker. She specializes in Slavic and Germanic studies, literary translation, communication and didactics.

Considering the technical conditions of organising the educational process during the wartime, Dr. Iris Bäcker gave a very brief introduction of her work as a DAAD lecturer. She outlined the main service aspects and named the most popular DAAD scholarship programmes. The latest information on the peculiarities of staying and studying in Germany, as well as competitions open to Ukrainians, can always be found on the website. 

During the course on linguistic and cultural studies of German-speaking countries, students wondered how Germans feel after 33 years of reunification, if there is still a separation between "westerners" and "easterners", how Germans treat migrants and how they influence the German culture. Traditional were also questions about the peculiarities of celebrating Christmas in the present time, as well as interesting places in Germany.

The presentation about the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is available here (author and compiler - Iris Bäcker).