Last week, Julia Kazhan, Head of the department of German and French philology at the Mariupol State University, Associate Professor and Serhii Pakhpmenko, Associate Professor of the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy, held series of scientific consultations and excursions around Mariupol for scholars from Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany. Foreign scholars were in Mariupol with individual visits, collecting material for their scientific works.

Helmut Seidl, Ph D student of Graz University (Austria) is writing a doctoral dissertation on cultural anthropology and he is exploring the peculiarities of Eastern Ukraine. Julia Kazhan and Serhii Pakhomenko advised him of the history, culture of the region, and the political processes that take place here. Also, Mr. Zaidl received a book on the history of Ukraine from a scholarly library of Mariupol State University and a Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy.

In the long run an agreement on information cooperation has been reached. Helmut Seidl, on his return to Graz University, will present a Master's degree program in the Baltic-Black Sea Studies, which is being developed by professors of the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy in cooperation with foreign partners within the framework of the Erasmus + project.

Dr. Jan Chapek, Specialist in Germanic studies and philologist of the University of Pardubice (Czech Republic), was in Mariupol to establish contacts with Mariupol colleagues. Julia Kazhan, Associate Professor, told Dr. Chapek about the activities of the Department of German Philology and the directions of scientific research of teachers. Besides, Serhii Pakhomenko, Associate Professor, held an excursion to the Museum of Local Lore, History and Economy and considered with him the cooperation prospects within the framework of the Erasmus + project.

The scholar Manfred Hammer from the Humboldt University of Berlin who studies de-communization in Ukraine also visited Mariupol. When he met Serhii Pakhomenko, he found out about the legal principles of de-communism, its specificity in the East of Ukraine, in Mariupol in particular, the changes in the historical memory policy that are currently taking place.

Hereinafter foreign scholars are to be kept in touch with.