In September–October 2024, the course “EU trade and international business” was delivered to Ukrainian students at Sumy State University. The course was taught by Dr Bohdan Kovalov, Associate Professor at the Department of Economics, Entrepreneurship and Business Administration.
The course aimed to provide students with knowledge of European Union trade and EU policies related to the support of international business. The programme covered five main thematic areas: the economic foundations of trade, including the theoretical foundations of trade, partial and general equilibrium analysis, and the history of EU trade; EU internal and external trade, including tariff and non-tariff barriers, free trade arrangements, EU trade policy, competitiveness and support for EU business; EU–Ukraine trade before and during the war in Ukraine, including the European Neighbourhood Policy, the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, GATT/WTO principles, the Association Agreement, the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), and trade liberalisation during the war; the content of the DCFTA between the EU and Ukraine, including market access for goods, trade remedies, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs and trade facilitation, public procurement and support for Ukraine; and EU companies and international business, with particular attention to the opportunities and challenges of globalisation, economic relations with China and the United States, the competitiveness of EU products and structural reforms.
The course was delivered across four student groups comprising 69 students in total. The teaching load included 36 hours of lectures and 56 hours of seminars, amounting to 92 teaching hours overall.
The course was prepared within the framework of the Jean Monnet Module “Youth & Business: EU Practices for Cooperation” (101126538 – YouthBEU – ERASMUS-JMO-2023-HEI-TCH-RSCH), led by Dr Bohdan Kovalov.
