Thoughts of Mariia Korniiets, 3rd year student of the educational program “International Economic Relations”:
UACU is Ukrainian-American Concordia University, which means that every Ukrainian student and everyone who knows the English language is welcome at this university. Therefore, representatives of various cultures are present in the university, which means that UACU is open to diversity, non-discrimination and equality.
Another principle that astonishingly represents UACU’s culture is academic integrity and honesty. I remember that this was one of the first “rules” I heard in the lesson “English Composition” from a remarkable teacher Alina Ngobeya. In my opinion, this principle is a cornerstone of any reputable academic institution, and it’s a key to establishing a space where every student is equal and receives grades only according to the gained knowledge.
In my opinion, UACU motivates students in various ways, and the first one is creating a schedule that is easy to follow and doesn’t overwhelm students, which gives us a space to learn and enjoy our lives. I’m on the 3rd course, and many students, including me, are working, and we were so grateful for our university schedule because it is easy to combine with a full-time job and not be burned out.
Another method of motivation is providing us with compensation for our effort, whether it’s financial or presented by additional points for a certain course. One of the examples is when it’s time to write the dictation for a Ukrainian writing day, and three students who write this dictation with the least amount of mistakes receive monetary compensation. Honestly, I remember how engaged we were to write this dictation and receive the prize; even those who often pass on such activities were writing. In addition, some of our students receive a tuition fee discount for participating in university activities, which allows them to receive great education with a less financial contribution. I’ve never seen such a system in other Ukrainian universities, and I admire UACU for thinking out of the box and caring about students.
Organizational communication in UACU is done through three channels: Moodle system, email communication and verbal communication through online or offline lessons.
As we know, successful organizational communication consists of the absence of noise (filtering, selective perception, information overload, emotional disconnects, lack of source familiarity or credibility, workplace gossip, semantics, differences in meaning between the sender and the receiver, discriminatory language, poor listening) and good preparation from the source of information. Successful communication also consists of constant learning from mistakes and feedback from others. Of course, nobody is perfect and establishing communication may be harsh, but it’s a work in progress.
In my experience, 90% of communication with UACU was successful; emails were written in a way that I understood everything the sender said and in case I did not, feedback was clear to me. The other 10% accounted for cases when many students were confused with emails from the university; it always happens when it’s time to choose electives, and for many students, it’s unclear whether we should pay for them or not, how many can we take, can we swap them, etc. Nevertheless, all the abovementioned issues were instantly and successfully resolved by feedback from the university.
In our lessons, we often participate in group work, sometimes, the group consists of only Ukrainian students, and sometimes international students are present. We adore group projects because it’s always easier to work together. Usually, we achieve better results by working in a group because every member is given the task he/she can do the best.
On the contrary, not every group project is a success and difficulties may occur. For example, once I was in a group with two team members who were not interested in doing a good job, so I was the one who was doing 70% of the work.
Our teacher couldn’t place us in good groups because we had only started the course and she didn’t know our capabilities. I didn’t inform the teacher about the issue, so she clearly couldn’t solve it.
From this situation, I gained a valuable lesson that if I want to be in a group with certain people, I may ask about it and that sometimes I will be in a group with those who are not interested in the project. I need to gain leadership skills to thrive even in such groups.
One of my friend’s most popular complaints is that handling some differences in their university is nearly impossible. In the case of UACU, I strongly disagree because any issues were taken into account and resolved quickly.
During the last semester, my fellow students and I had two important issues to resolve with the university: transfer to distant learning due to power outages and negative feedback on one of the courses. Surprisingly or not, I was the one who sent letters to the university and handled the communication. To be honest, I thought it would either bring no results or bad consequences for the students.
I’m so glad I was wrong. The university answered both emails, transferred us to distance learning and improved the course we were complaining about.
Human Capital is a key to any entity’s success, whether a business or a university. When you think about successful and respectable universities, such as Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, etc., what do you think makes them so famous and wanted? People. Without remarkable teachers, no student at those universities would be famous. Without extraordinary human resource specialists, there would be no such great teachers in them, and without everyone who makes Harvard Harvard, there would be no Harvard.
Thinking about UACU, I may say that many exceptional people work there. I remember how excited I was when I stepped into the university’s first course; I was so happy to be there and learn from so many great teachers and students.
Every teacher in UACU possesses those qualities: politeness, professionalism, open-mindedness, empathy, good communication skills, listening, collaboration, adaptability, and patience. Other characteristics include an engaging classroom presence, real-world learning value, best practices exchange and a lifelong love of learning.
Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is the ability to identify, manage and use emotions effectively. According to author Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence is more powerful than IQ when determining academic success and personal well-being. Therefore, if educators understand and apply the principles of emotional intelligence in their classrooms, they can positively affect their students’ development.
Generally speaking, teachers can teach emotional intelligence effectively in the classroom. It’s a process that can be tailored to each student’s capabilities and needs. First, educators can become familiar with the definitions of the four core skills of emotional intelligence: self-control, motivation, social awareness and stress management. Once they grasp these concepts, they can start teaching their classes the skills required to develop emotional intelligence. These skills include fostering a positive attitude toward learning and independence and setting clear goals for themselves and their students.
I can’t say that we had many events that taught us how to use emotional intelligence; however, we’ve been taught what it is and how to apply it in several courses, including Organizational Leadership, Interpersonal Communication and Organizational Behavior.
Summing up everything that has been mentioned so far, with full confidence, I can admit that Ukrainian American Concordia University is one of the best Ukrainian universities in terms of Organizational Behavior. Nevertheless, it has some areas for improvement: emotional intelligence development and intergroup relations.
