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A two-day international meeting “Joint CDEG & GEP Meeting and Knowledge Sharing Workshop” was held at the University of Pecs (Hungary). The event brought together representatives of universities of the European EDUC alliance within the framework of the EDUC-WIDE project.
The goal of the two-day meeting was to deepen cooperation between European universities, exchange experiences in supporting the career growth of employees, actively implement gender equality plans, and find practical solutions for creating a university environment in which the principles of equality, support, and respect for human needs become an integral part of the institutional culture.
The first day of the workshop was dedicated to practical tools for ensuring equal opportunities for employees of higher education institutions, developing career counseling, and forming transparent and fair approaches to human resources management.
On October 19, the meeting was moderated by Kateryna Fomin , associate professor of the Department of English Philology, leading specialist of the Project Management Department of the KNUVS, and task manager of the EDUC-WIDE project.
The participants were welcomed by Professor Katalin Füzér , Head of the EDUC-WIDE Project at the University of Pecs, and Iryna Hryhoruk, Head of the Research Department, Associate Professor of the Department of Management and Business Administration, and Project Manager at the KNUVS.
Representatives of Masaryk University, Iva Lízalová and Natálie Miklánková, shared their experience in developing a career counseling system for university employees. The focus was on practical mechanisms for supporting professional development and translating the university’s strategic goals into concrete services and opportunities for staff.
Aina Enstad from the University of South-East Norway presented approaches to moving from individual career initiatives to systemic institutional practices. The discussion highlighted the importance of integrating professional development of employees into the overall strategy of university management.
Particular attention was paid to the transparency of remuneration in higher education. The representative of the University of Pécs, Csenge Láng, raised the issue of modern approaches to ensuring the transparency of remuneration, the fairness of remuneration systems and the prospects for their improvement in the university environment.
The first day’s event concluded with a collaborative creative session, facilitated by Claudia Dell’Uomo d’Arme from the University of Paris Nanterre. The initiative invited participants to reflect on gender equality through personal experience, language, identity and academic solidarity. This approach added a humanistic dimension to the discussion of governance mechanisms, emphasizing that people, their needs, dignity and opportunities for self-fulfillment should remain at the center of institutional policies.
The second day was opened by Tetyana Solodzhuk , Head of the Project Management Department, Associate Professor of the Department of Finance, and Task Manager of the EDUC-WIDE project.
Martina Cannone , representative of the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, reported on the European policy context for the development of inclusive gender equality in research and innovation .
The Ukrainian experience of gender-responsive budgeting and the role of higher education institutions in its development was presented by Oksana Tsyupa , associate professor of the Department of Finance of the Kyiv National University of Internal Affairs, national expert on public financial management and gender-responsive budgeting in Ukraine.
The participants’ attention was drawn to the report by Ester Cois , professor at the University of Cagliari, president of the National Conference of Equality Bodies in Italian Universities, on the transition from the formal adoption of gender equality plans to real institutional changes and the formation of a culture of care.
The common theme of the expert presentations was the understanding of gender equality not as a separate direction of university policy, but as a cross-cutting management principle that should influence decision-making, resource allocation, professional opportunities, and the daily life of the university community.
The central part of the second day was the interactive working session “Gender Equality in Action: Building Inclusive Universities Focused on Supporting and Taking into Account Human Needs”, the concept of which was jointly developed by Tetyana Solodzhuk and Claudia Dell’Uomo d’Arme , who facilitated the implementation of this task by the participants.
Instead of the traditional presentation format, participants were invited to jointly explore how the principles of gender equality are implemented in different universities and what institutional practices could be useful for other partners.
Participants worked to distinguish between practices that can be relatively easily adapted, approaches that require changes in institutional or regulatory conditions, and common principles that can be implemented by different universities, taking into account their specificities.
For the Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University, participation in the formation of the program, expert discussions, and facilitation of joint work became an opportunity not only to present the Ukrainian experience, but also to make a direct contribution to the development of common European approaches to ensuring gender equality in higher education.
The main conclusion of the workshop is that true gender equality begins where universities move from declarations and formal strategies to concrete management decisions, institutional practices, and a culture of mutual respect, support, and accountability.
The event took place within the framework of the international project EDUC-WIDE , funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe program.
