Kiev, Ukraine (March 4, 2016) – As part of a collaborative Defense Education Enhancement Program (DEEP) effort, the National Defense University of Ukraine (NDUU) hosted a workshop from 29 February to 3 March, focusing on faculty development and innovative learning.

Several institutes from the NDUU participated in the workshop, including the Institute of Operational Support and Logistics, the Institute of State Military Leadership, the Command and Staff Institute, and the Center for International Peacekeeping. NDUU participants practiced modern innovative learning methods, including active learning, transformative learning, and blended learning, and also reviewed NATO and western-based curriculum development practices, thereby enabling the NDUU to achieve educational interoperability with NATO and other partners.

Iryna Lysychkina, Associate Professor at the National Academy of the National Guard of Ukraine, who serves as the DEEP team lead for Faculty Development at the NDUU and who has been assisting the NDUU since 2015, highlighted the tremendous progress being made on the part of the NDUU, and their willingness to continue down a successful path of defense education reform.

The George C. Marshall Center (GCMC) in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, is also playing an active role in the Ukraine DEEP program, as Commander Andreas Hildenbrand, a GCMC faculty member, is serving as a co-lead for faculty development cooperation in Ukraine.

The DEEP workshop was part of a broader defense education reform initiative that began in Ukraine in 2013. Ukraine’s DEEP program is underway at numerous defense education institutions throughout Ukraine, including the NDUU. Through the DEEP program, the Ukrainian MoD is actively pursuing several initiatives including faculty and curriculum development, as well implementing a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) Development Program, and incorporating into defense education lessons learned from operations in the Donbass region.

Colonel Salkutsan, Deputy Commandant of the NDUU, was present at the workshop, expressing appreciation for the fruitful Ukrainian DEEP program, and looking ahead to continued cooperation.

Jointly managed by the Partnership for Peace Consortium (PfPC) and NATO, the DEEP program was initiated in 2007 in response to efforts of former Soviet Union states to transform their defense education institutions. To date DEEP programs are underway in 13 countries, each program specifically tailored to a country’s needs: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Georgia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Moldova, Mongolia, Serbia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.