September 1, 2015
Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University
Kyiv, Ukraine

On September 1, 2015 the first-year students of the Department of Romance Philology and comparative and typological linguistics at Humanitarian Institute were greeted by Isabella Alvarez, a representative of the University of Lisbon in IRNet (the program of international cooperation of universities). Mrs. Alvarez addressed the freshmen with a speech in which she touched the importance on professional study of several foreign languages ​​in today's globalized and integrated Europe. Mrs. Alvarez was impressed that the students who have chosen the profession profile for one of the Romance languages are also fluent in English. Having mentioned national unity and linguistic and cultural differences, the importance of intercultural communication, Mrs. Alvarez drew the future linguists attention to the demands of a competitive professional environment, pursuing young professionals need for continuous professional development and language skills improvement in authentic linguistic culture. On this occasion, Mrs. Alvarez introduced the concept of university openness and mobility within Europe, which is provided by university partnership programs such as Erasmus Mundus, IRNet and so forth. The students actively discussed academic mobility with Mrs. Alvarez.