On 12 December 2024, SumDU held the last scheduled meeting of the Academic Council this year.

Denys SMOLENNIKOV (head of the Department for Benchmarking and Statistics) presented data on status and tasks to improve efficiency of activities aimed at achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

SumDU demonstrates a systematic approach to taking into account the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in all key aspects of its activities. This is confirmed by high university positions in international rankings that comprehensively assess sustainable development. According to the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, SumDU is leading among Ukrainian universities. It ranks 201-300 worldwide. In the UI GreenMetric and QS Sustainability Rankings, the university is on the second place in Ukraine and ranks 332nd and 786th in the global context, respectively.

Every year, about 300 Scopus papers are published on SDGs. In 2023, the total amount of funding for research in environment and sustainable development exceeded UAH 18 million.

Leaders in SDGs are currently the Faculty of Technical Systems and Energy Efficient Technologies, the Law Institute, the Faculty of Foreign Philology and Social Communications. The most active departments are those of Psychology, Political Science and Socio-Cultural Technologies; Ecology and Environmental Technologies; Economics, Entrepreneurship and Business Administration.

Anatolii VASYLIEV (chairman of the Academic Council) noted importance of increasing the role of universities in solving global problems: “International rankings encourage institutions to actively seek their place in solving global problems of society”.

Oleksandr BRYZHATYI (vice-rector) and Mariia MINCHENKO (head of the Humanitarian Policy Coordination Center) reported on implementation of the tasks set by the Academic Council to strengthen the military-patriotic component.

It was stated the university has organized 7 locations to honor memory of fallen students and graduates. It concerns the memorial sign to the fallen student soldier, the memorial “Walk of Fame”, the wall of memory “Stop... Remember” in the basic institution and the corresponding ones in separate structural subdivisions.

The Veterans Development Center supports veterans and their families, implements programs to train veterans’ assistants. It realizes the Space of Opportunities project to employ veterans and their families. Together with the NGO “Intellect of Sumy Region”, a project to expand veterans’ access to physical rehabilitation services with international grant support was prepared.

The university volunteer movement involves thousands of students and staff who actively support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and participate in restoration of damaged infrastructure. They organize cultural and artistic events, including concerts, charity balls, festivals and competitions in support of national values.

Particular attention was paid to educational work. It concerns the historical aspect of formation and development of the Ukrainian statehood. Participants expand knowledge about national heroes who dedicated their lives to struggle for Ukrainian independence.

At the meeting end, the Academic Council approved the Regulations on Research Management. The members made decisions for organizing educational and scientific activities of the university.