Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the era of globalization and new technologies, the training of marine specialists at the Danube Institute, as well as in all the world’s maritime educational institutions, is undergoing serious changes. The complexity of the processes of the modernization of marine education is ahead manner of its development. The product of maritime education is new knowledges, competence, human capital.

The quality of the education of marine specialists at the Danube Institute corresponds to the pace of development of the world merchant fleet. Our laboratories are equipped with modern simulators and training equipment.

In order to improve personnel training, the institute has been in close contact with state-run enterprises, crewing companies, and world shipping companies. We find the main purpose of further development of the institute in creating the conditions for our graduates to acquire high potential maritime professions that allow them to adapt successfully to the requirements of the changeable world employment market.

With great respect,

Director, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor Valentyn Ivanovych Chymshyr

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Interview with the Director of the Danube Institute Chymshyr Valentyn Ivanovych to journalist of the web-portal “City-24” Natalia Mykhailova

Valentyn Chymshyr, the Director of the Danube Institute of the National University “Odessa Maritime Academy”, as bright as possible is illustrated by the saying that “A title is only as good as the person who earned it”. His appointment to such a prestigious position was perceived as a legitimacy, although today we have been so used to such a phenomenon as “random people” in responsible positions, that we are amazed when the opposite happens. “Right man in the right place” – so Valentyn Ivanovych is characterized by his colleagues. As to this characteristic, about twenty years are devoted to teaching and science.

The first steps in the profession

            “A sad fate awaits a person who is endowed with talent, but instead of developing and improving his abilities, he exaggerates too much and gives way to idleness and self-admiration. Such a person gradually loses the clarity and acuity of the mind, becomes backward, lazy and overgrown with the rust of ignorance, which corrodes the body and soul. “-this quote belongs to Leonardo da Vinci. For Valentyn, the constant desire for development has become his main “growth factor”. In the family the eldest son was accustomed to work, sport taught self-discipline (during school years, V. Chymshyr was engaged in freestyle wrestling under guidance of the Honored Coach of Ukraine Mykola Stoyanov). Having received his first diploma in the Izmail College of Production Automation, he realized that this was not the degree at which he had to stop. Did Valentyn Ivanovych not stop to this day?

After the college, he went to the second course of the new faculty of the Izmail State Pedagogical Institute (ISPI) – engineering and pedagogical, and one year later, began parallel work – taught programming in the College of Production Automation. Then there was another invitation to work at the Izmail Polytechnic Lyceum (IPL). Having received the red diploma of the ISPI, Valentyn actually “disappeared” on his job, combining the full-time job at the department at the pedagogical institute, teaching at the lyceum, college of economics and law, and the school in Broska village.

Masters and masterminds

“In my professional development, Olga Syraeva, the director of IPL, played a very important role”, – says Valentyn Ivanovych, – “Once she invited me to a conversation and asked: “What do you need to not “be torn”, but entirely devote yourself to the lyceum? What do you want?”. “Well, – I replied – I want to study science”. At that time, I was offered postgraduate study at the Pedagogical Department, but I was interested in technical profile. I remember Stella Ivanivna Tadian did not understand my refusal at that time, and probably I was offended. But if I had not shown my firmness then, who knows, how my career would have developed. Olga Georgievna kept her word. In the Izmail polytechnic lyceum there were close relationships with the marine educational institutions of Ukraine, especially with the Odessa National Maritime University (ONMU). And during one of my trips to Odessa I was acquainted with the rector of ONMU: academician, professor, doctor of technical sciences Yuriy Vorobiev and the dean of the Faculty of Law: at that time a candidate of technical sciences Anatoly Shakhov. Anatoly Valentynovich invited me to write a few scientific articles to understand what scientific advisers  to appoint me. When I returned to Izmail, I first got permission to the library of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping compony – they had excellent funds for technical literature. Looking through my articles (I wrote three scientific publications), Anatoly Shakhov proposed to become his postgraduate student at the Department of Ship repair of ONMU. So, my destiny was decided.

After four years of studying in graduate school I was transferred to a new specialty – “Project and program management”. My scientific leader was the first in Odessa region to defend his doctoral thesis, and I and another graduate student at the University – the first to defend the candidate’s theses. Moreover, our developments have created a platform for the establishment of a project management school in Odessa.

After defending the thesis, Valentyn Chymshyr went to the Odessa National Maritime Academy to expand the spectrum of scientific research at the shipyard department. And he successfully graduated, having received a diploma as merchant fleet engineer.

Scientific work was combined with pedagogical practice, moreover, Valentyn Ivanovych actively implemented science in teaching the basic information technology in the Lyceum. His pupils became regular prize-winners of the regional Olympiads and competitions of the Junior academy of science in the field of information technologies. IPL became the main competitor of the popular specialized educational institutions of Odessa – Richelieu Lyceum, the 1st gymnasium and others – every time “taking” the first places in the region.

These results are a vivid example how important it is not to limit their employees in their desire for development. Olga Syraeva dug out for her teacher new opportunities for professional growth and received in return visible achievements for the entire lyceum.

– All this time my family supported me and, – says Valentyn Ivanovych. – It was very difficult at first, and financially, and the load was evident, but I’m grateful to my wife, Anya, because she never tried to stop me, she never accused me. She always believed in me. That is why the family has always been and is the strongest motivation for growth and the basic meaning of life for me.

The director of the Danube Institute NU “OMA” has two children – Vladislav – son, the pupil of the tenth class and his daughter, the fourth-class pupil, Alice. Of course, children of Valentyn Ivanovych study at the lyceum, daughter, however, only entered it.

From the school board – to the academy department

After the defense of the candidate thesis, proposals were made: the doors to all the institutes of Izmail were opened for the young candidate of sciences. An invitation to work came from the dean of the Izmail Faculty of ONMA Maria Yarmolenko, – here Valentyn Chymshyr saw the prospect, because the subject of his thesis coincided with the profile of the faculty.

He is thankful to Maria Ivanovna today, not only for hiring, but for supporting all his progressive ideas. It is true, at first, to teach here had to be on a part-time basis, the main place of work remained Lyceum.

“It was very comfortable for me in the IPL,” Valentyn Ivanovych looks back. – The administration supported me in all endeavors. For example, wi-fi, cloud technologies and other advanced innovations were introduced here even when a large part of Izmail had no idea what it was like. I participated in the “Teacher of the Year” contest for three times, won the regional stage and went to the Ukrainian level, in short terms passed the qualification route from a specialist to a resource teacher; for four years I headed the city resource teacher’s union of teachers of informatics. The great motivation for me was the lyceum students, their interest in the subject. Well, I have already spoken about the attitude of the administration of the lyceum to me, and yet, we always do not have enough time or a reason to thank. I am very grateful to Olga Georgievna for the support. In a word, I was very much associated with the lyceum, and therefore, even after receiving the post of deputy dean on scientific work at IF ONMA, I continued to teach there until 2014. I refused when I realized that the load for me was too heavy”… As deputy dean on scientific work, Valentyn Chymshyr also began to “set the tone” in the work of the entire staff.

– At the beginning it was necessary to convince the staff that the high institution is a place in which science should develop, – says Valentyn Ivanovych. – Before my appointment to this position, in a year at Izmail Faculty three scientific articles were written. These figures need to be corrected. In the first year of my career as assistant dean of science, they grew up to eighteen scientific publications. And at this stage, the teaching staff is preparing to publish about a hundred articles annually. We managed to raise thoroughly the citation index and the number of references in the scientific data base – these are the main indicators of the scientific work of the high intuition.

Of course, as the director of the Danube Institute NU “OMA” confesses, a administrational position takes a lot of time and effort. And two positions at the same time even more. After all, Valentyn Ivanovych had to combine the duties of deputy dean on scientific work and the head of the specialized department – navigation and engineering. Not hiding satisfaction, my interlocutor tells that it was possible to increase significantly the scientific capacity of the department. Today on its basis, teaching guidance is issued, conferences and seminars are held, and six postgraduate students are trained. In fact, the department acquired the status of a graduate one. In general, five departments work on the basis of the institute, each in its direction.

After the appointment of V. Chymshyr as the director of the Danube Institute, the administrative workload increased even more. But the desire to develop in science is a serious motivation, and it does not allow to stop. That’s why all the duties are combined with the writing of the doctorate, the preparation of postgraduates, visiting international scientific conferences and forums.

– I understand that the environment for development should be in every teacher of our staff, – says the director of the Danube Institute, – in accordance with the overall strategy of the institute. We finance business trips of the staff for participation in scientific conferences. Today we can proudly say that most of the scientific staff of the institute has been raised up in these walls: our graduates return to us after a few voyages, enter a postgraduate school …

New Stages – New Aims. What is the future of the Danube Institute NU “OMA”?

– Today we are working on creation of educational consistency in Izmail, – our storyteller shares plans. – This will allow to maximize the available scientific resources in the town and continue to implement the planned development strategy of our institute. The maximum agenda is the creation of a integrated Maritime Educational Center in the Danube Region. There is the definition of “continuous education” – this is a kind of chain consisting of individual units. The first link is the “marine classes” on the basis of a secondary school, then – a college for receiving the education of a junior bachelor. Next – directly the institute (bachelor’s degree), upgrade qualification, certification and magistracy. Today we are analyzing the possibility of creating missing “chain links” – marine classes, colleges, certification. The issue of opening a magistracy is not yet raised, but, of course, in the long run and it will be considered.

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By |2019-07-31T15:39:22+02:0031 Липня, 2019|Без рубрики|0 Comments

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