From 16 to 20 June 2023, the first workshop for the teams participating in the Erasmus+ grant project, Viste, Italy, Virtual exchanges in higher education and youth - ERASMUS-EDU-2021-VIRT-EXCH "INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF VIRTUAL YOUTH BUSINESS HUBS", VEHUB4YOU, took place.

Universities and institutions involved in the project:

Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design - project initiator;

University of Foggia (Italy) - project coordinator;

RISEBA University of Applied Sciences (Latvia);

Mingachevir State University (Azerbaijan);

Institute for Social and Economic Initiatives (Ukraine) - project co-coordinator;

Kyiv Education, Training and Youth Centre (Ukraine).

The event was held in a hybrid format.

Participants representing the project teams offline:

- Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design was represented by Project Manager, Dean of the Faculty of Management and Business Design, Doctor of Economics, Professor Oleksandra Olshanska;

- University of Foggia (Italy), which is the project coordinator, was represented by Giulio Esposito - Head of the International Department and Erasmus+ Coordinator of the University of Foggia and Pierpaolo Magliocca, PhD, Oleksandra Tveresovska, Olesia Benchak;

- Institute for Social and Economic Initiatives - Doctor of Economics, Professor Olena Cherniavska;

- RISEBA University of Applied Sciences in Latvia was represented by Anna Ragain and Zane Rashevska;

- Mingachevir State University (Azerbaijan) was represented by Research Manager Samira Akhmadova and Researcher Turkabneyim Ahmadli;

- Kyiv Education, Training and Youth Centre was represented by Oleksandra Cherniavska and Olha Verkhola.

The main goal of the VEHUB4YOU project

The VEHUB4YOU consortium members will make joint efforts to organise a network of international virtual business hubs and business training for high school, college, and university students of both economic and non-economic specialties by creating an international network of virtual youth business hubs VIRTUAL YOUTH BUSINESS HUBS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK, which includes 60 virtual international business hubs based in schools, universities and rural libraries in Ukraine and Azerbaijan. As a result, the project will involve 2500 representatives from 60 hubs and 250 facilitators from the Eastern partner countries, as well as 220 participants from other regions (Southern Neighbourhood and Sub-Saharan Africa).

During the workshop, representatives of each of the project's participating universities presented reports on innovative pedagogical practices used in teaching, methods, and platforms for modern virtual learning and knowledge transfer. The team leader of Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, Doctor of Economics, Professor Oleksandra Olshanska, presented the results of the first phase of the project, including the creation of a working draft of the Training Program for Facilitators of Future Business Hubs, its content and main areas of implementation. The report identified and proposed the main regular and irregular activities that are planned during the period of work on the implementation of the main goal of the project - the implementation of European experience and knowledge in disseminating business knowledge among young people in Ukraine and Azerbaijan. The participants also heard an online report from the responsible project manager from Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design, PhD, Associate Professor Svitlana Bebko, who made a thorough analysis of the results of the Local Needs Monitoring, which included a preliminary survey of school teachers, college and university professors in Ukraine and Azerbaijan, as well as schoolchildren and students about their vision of participating in the project, priorities in choosing the courses that could be offered, and the goals they set for themselves by participating in the project.

During the workshop, the Italian partners of the project made presentations, in particular, a representative of the University of Foggia, Pierpaolo Magliocca, PhD, made a presentation of training courses and innovative practices. In his report, he presented the existing academic courses that can be taught in English, innovative practices and approaches used in teaching, and proposed to implement basic business courses in the VEHUB4YOU Facilitator Training Program.

Representatives of the RISEBA University of Applied Sciences (Riga, Latvia) presented their institution, main achievements, and results of international cooperation, as well as identified training courses that could be offered for the project, shared information on what platforms and methods are used in online and virtual learning, shared the existing practice of organising a business incubator based on RISEBA and ideas on how to use this experience within the project.

Mingachevir State University (Azerbaijan) was represented by Research Manager Samira Akhmadova and Researcher Turkabneyim Ahmadli. In their report, they presented the university, the main areas of student training, courses, and disciplines taught. The report also analysed the results of a survey of future facilitators - teachers of schools, colleges, and universities, as well as schoolchildren and students of Azerbaijan.

Olena Cherniavska, Professor, Doctor of Economics, on behalf of the Institute for Social and Economic Initiatives, shared innovative approaches to international virtual exchange developed in the course of the research project "Innovations in Higher Education" funded by the Swiss National Research Foundation, in which she participates as a researcher at the Department of Technology and Innovation Management at ETH Zürich (Switzerland). A working form for further discussions was also proposed, based on 40 proposed ideas for international virtual exchange and a description of how each idea could be implemented. This form, prepared by the ICEI team, became the basis for further discussions during the workshop and planning of the implementation of VEHUB4YOU project activities. The consortium representatives were also offered the concept of "KNOW-2VIR" (Knowledge Viral Virtual Exchange) for consideration and discussion by Prof. Cherniavska: A system of cascading exponential dissemination of business knowledge through virtual exchange. This approach is one of the results of synergy with the research project 0120U101862 International Networking Business Education (Ukraine, 2020-2030), the main executor of which is the ICEI. KNOW-2VIR involves the use of digital platforms and innovative technologies to create virtual international business hubs for interaction between participants from different countries and fields of knowledge, which allows them to share experiences, gain new knowledge and learn the basics of doing business in a digital environment.

The team from Kyiv Education, Training and Youth Centre (Ukraine) presented the current results of their work to engage 220 participants from other regions covered by the project (Southern Neighbourhood and Sub-Saharan Africa). They developed proposals for conducting and organising training courses and workshops for working youth on business content visualisation, graphic design, the use of artificial intelligence and social media for business networking, and also offered ideas for the content of the project website, presented T-shirts with the project logo to all the project participants and a project banner. In addition, the consortium members were offered to review and discuss the protocol of the masterclass "Creating and Visualising a New Brand/Project on Instagram Using Artificial Intelligence", which can be used to transfer knowledge and skills between international youth business hubs during the project.

During the following days of the workshop, there were active discussions among the project participants and discussions in the Italy-Ukraine and Latvia-Azerbaijan groups on the implementation and practical application of innovative methods, practices, and platforms for virtual exchange and training, training of facilitators and models of future business hubs, and their areas of work.

After that, at the final meetings, following the workshop program, the participants held fruitful discussions and discussed 40 ideas for international virtual exchange and potential applications for providing virtual exchange opportunities for 2000+ participants in small groups, proposed in the working form developed by the ICEI team. In particular, the proposals included such activities as virtual presentations on local businesses and opportunities, where participants from each country can share information about their local business centres, present successful cases, and talk about the potential for students and schoolchildren; virtual entrepreneurship courses, where participants can learn the basics of entrepreneurship, business planning, business plan development, and strategies; virtual meetings with successful entrepreneurs and organisation of regular events with the participation of business representatives from the participating countries - "Business Based on these discussions and the work of the teams, a draft schedule of events was created as a basis for creating a Google calendar and filling the project website. The draft was submitted to the teams of the consortium members for further discussions at the business faculties. It was also proposed to hold additional online meetings between the business faculties of the consortium members.

To sum up, it is worth noting that the workshop "Innovations in Virtual Exchange: Training of Facilitators and Organisation of Virtual Exchange" by the VEHUB4YOU consortium members was extremely intense, constructive, and fruitful. The results were the approval and detailed discussion of training courses from participating universities, forms, and methods of training with the mandatory implementation of innovative approaches and practices, the final approval of the Facilitator Training Program - future initiators and managers of business hubs, the agreement on the types and forms of virtual exchange and the creation of a calendar for facilitator training and virtual exchange between project participants.

We are grateful to our VEHUB4YOU project partners for their cooperation and fruitful work!

30.06.2023