• The Summer School of Ukrainian Language and Culture is a natural continuation of the mission and objectives of the Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society (DILL) at the University of Udine. The project strengthens the teaching of the languages of Central and Eastern Europe, a region to which Friuli has historically served as a gateway. Since its foundation, the University of Udine has regarded the teaching of these languages and cultures as one of its distinctive features and, in light of recent developments, this commitment has been reaffirmed as a strategic choice for understanding the present.

• The Summer School of Ukrainian Language and Culture is intended as a valuable complement to the regular curriculum, since Ukrainian is not currently among the languages taught at the University of Udine. Learning the language and culture of Ukraine requires specific tools and knowledge that cannot simply be derived from other languages of the region. Furthermore, the cultural and geopolitical approach that characterizes the school responds to the need to view the teaching of languages and cultures not as the acquisition of abstract notions detached from the present, but rather as a form of genuine cultural mediation whose content is immediately relevant to contemporary life and society.

• The course adopts an interdisciplinary approach to Ukrainian culture, extending beyond linguistic and literary aspects to include areas that are often neglected in traditional teaching, such as popular culture and comics. Traditional classroom teaching is further supported by the Teams platform, which allows students to explore specific grammatical topics in greater depth and to assess independently the skills they have acquired, while reserving the morning classes for spontaneous interaction with the lecturer.

• The school is open to students enrolled in the bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes in Foreign Languages and Literatures and Cultural Mediation (L11, L12, LM37, LM94) offered by DILL (Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society), as well as to students in the degree programme in Literary Studies offered by DIUM (Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage). It is also open to students from partner universities in Munich and Kraków, as well as to other students and individuals interested in learning Ukrainian, both from Italy and abroad.