City Journalism donates TV equipment to Ukrainian partner university

A very special shipment has left the University post room: on the first stage of its journey to our partner university in Ukraine.

The television studio in College Building of the Clerkenwell Campus was upgraded last summer, but the equipment that was replaced was still in good working order.

Our partners at Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University in Ukraine were not in such a fortunate position.

Driven from their home city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine after that region became a war zone, they eventually re-established themselves in Vinnytsia, some 800 km to the west.

The University started a partnership with them in 2023, a year after Russia’s full-scale invasion. City St George’s and Vasyl’ Stus were introduced to each other by the Cormack Consultancy Group, who for three years have been running a twinning programme between British and Ukrainian universities.

The partnership has initially focused on the departments of Journalism and International Politics. Online lectures, webinars discussing international affairs, and an ‘English Club’—to help Ukrainian colleagues practise their spoken English—have all been a great success.

But Vasyl’ Stus’s flight from the war meant they had no equipment for practical journalism modules.

Now a shipment of cameras—used, but still in perfect working order—is heading for Ukraine.

We cannot imagine the difficult and sometimes dangerous circumstances in which our colleagues and their students at Vasyl’ Stus have to work. Journalism is a key part of Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s war: so it is good that we at City St George’s have been able to help, in however small a way.

I would like to place on record my thanks to Gary Tonge, Head of Specialist Infrastructure and Information Technology, and to Sionade Robinson, Vice-President for Enterprise, Engagement & Employability for their invaluable assistance in getting the shipment sent off. I would also like to thank the president for his unfailing support for this and all parts of our work with Ukraine.