Essex Law Clinic teams up with Ukrainian university

The University of Essex is teaming up with a Ukrainian university under an exciting new partnership aimed at connecting law students.

Undergraduates from the Essex Law Clinic and Khmelnytskyi National University Law Clinic (KhNU) will share the work of their respective law clinics by each producing a recording which will be shared on Zoom.

The aim is for the two groups of students to then work together on a joint project in the spring term.

Discussions to develop a partnership took place in the summer and resulted in the twinning programme being set up to enhance student learning and engagement.

It is hoped a future shared task will see the students assist and provide legal advice to Ukrainian refugees living in the UK, as well as helping to form significant links between students and staff in the respective law clinics and schools.

Deputy Director of Essex Law Clinic, Liz Fisher-Frank, who has helped set up the new partnership, said: “Essex Law Clinic is extremely proud to be developing a twinning programme with the law clinic at Khmelnytskyi National University.

“It is a fantastic opportunity for students and staff in both environments to create relationships and learn from each other.

“The idea for this programme stemmed from an initial general conversation which we are now very enthusiastic to grow into a long-term collaboration.”

Professor Kateryna Skyba, Vice-rector for scientific and pedagogical work at KhNU, added: “We express our sincere gratitude to our colleagues from the Essex Law Clinic at the University of Essex for their willingness and readiness to share and exchange knowledge and expertise with us through our twinning programme.

“We believe that the ties of cooperation and cultural exchange we develop today will contribute to both institutions and bring new insights into the work of law clinics in our countries.”

About KhNU

Khmelnytskyi National University is based in the Podilelia region of Ukraine, to the south west of the capital, Kyiv. It was founded in June 1962 and has more than 6,000 students studying there currently, along with 539 full-time scientific and pedagogical staff.