On April 3, 5 and 6, 2023, a kick-off meeting was held within the framework of the project 101083143 — DEFEP “Distance Education for Future: best EU practices in response to the requests of modern higher education seekers and labor market”), under the Erasmus+ program, under the direction ERASMUS-EDU-2022-CBHE-STRAND-2 – Capacity Building in the field of Higher Education: Strand 2 – Partnerships for transformation in higher education.

Given the security situation, the meeting was organized and held in a hybrid format. The implementers of the DEFEP project from Chernihiv Polytechnic National University participated remotely in the kick-off meeting:

• – Natalia Ivanova, Head of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Trade, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor;
• – Serhii Ivanets, director of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Electronic and Information Technologies, candidate of technical sciences, associate professor;
• – Nataliya Kholyavko, head of the Center for Project Activities, doctor of economics, professor, professor of the Department of Finance, Banking and Insurance.

On April 3, the coordinators of the project, the Black Sea National University named after Petro Mohyla, presented the project, its mission, goals and key implementation milestones. During the first day of the meeting, Serhii Anatoliyovych Ivanets presented the Chernihiv Polytechnic National University and the distance education experience acquired by the university.

April 5 was devoted to the discussion of the working points of project implementation, the formation of management bodies and the development of an information system to support and promote the project (logo, slogan, website, etc.).

On April 6, the participants of the meeting specified the first steps to start the project, distributed responsibilities and agreed on the work plan. Special attention was paid to the organizational aspects of conducting a sociological survey of higher education applicants, employers, scientific and pedagogical workers and university management. Consortium members made adjustments to the formats of the round tables and scientific-practical conference planned as part of the project, taking into account the military and security situation in Ukraine and Moldova.

We thank the organizers of the meeting for the high level of preparation and establishment of productive constructive interaction of participants from all member countries of the consortium!