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4. Tell us about the perspectives of the CUPP program. What, in your opinion, will safeguard the success of this initiative?
I believe that the registration of the CUPP Alumni Association is a natural step in the history of CUPP. Since 1991, well over 300 Ukrainian students have come to Canada, completed the internship, over 60% of these students have earned graduate degrees in western universities and some are currently engaged in internships and work programs at the Council of Europe, the World Health Organization, the European Commission, the World Bank, CIDA sponsored internships in the petroleum industry, and are acquiring invaluable experience for Ukraine's future. This growing wealth of knowledge is a resource which should be nurtured and shared among CUPP alumni and the CUPP Alumni Association can set out important and achievable goals for itself, as many alumni wish to share and contribute their acquired experience and knowledge in improving life in Ukraine.
I understand that some CUPP alumni wish to more actively participate in the upcoming presidential elections and this again is a natural progression for CUPP graduates who have not only completed the internship in Canada, but in several years participated in federal and provincial election campaigns and in the campaigns of the leaders of the competing parties in Canadian federal elections. CUPP alumni are familiar with the operation of election campaigns in Canada, their weaknesses and areas for improvement.
5. Judging by the response of CUPP alumni, the knowledge gained through the internship in the Canadian Parliament has led to the formation of a consensus creating a realistic and not merely declaratory democracy. Which principle will become fundamental in the activities of the proposed CUPP alumni organization?
This question should more appropriately be answered by some of the CUPP alumni who are the initiators of the CUPP Alumni Organization. My opinion, not a novel one, is that lasting reform is not possible without the Rule of Law in a society. As well, elections alone do not determine the fate of a society. There must, above all, be a clear understanding and practice that no one is above the law, and that each individual enjoys the same rights, protections and privileges as the head of government. Recent events in Ukraine in silencing the media, obstructing the holding of open meetings, are evidence that in spite of the holding of several parliamentary and presidential elections in Ukraine, the country is still in anchored in a soviet time warp.
6. The geographical representation of CUPP Alumni encompasses all of Ukraine. Among this years candidates who succeeded in the competition to come to Canada are students from educational institutions of Kyiv, Donetsk, Simferopol, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Uman, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Odesa, etc. Such representation allows you to make some objective assessments about the potential of Ukrainian student youth. In what do you see its strength and what are its weaknesses?
The strength of CUPP applicants is that they represent some of the best students currently at Ukrainian universities. When I say the best, I mean their academic performance, their intellectual ability, their maturity and leadership, their creativity and professional potential and most importantly their capacity to pursue knowledge. In many cases , the students must balance their university studies and necessity to work outside of their studies, in order to maintain themselves at university. Their determination to succeed at the undergraduate level and their determination to pursue graduate degrees is most admirable. I recently stated in an interview that education and knowledge will save Ukraine. I elaborate that education and knowledge will ensure a future for an independent Ukraine.
7. Which Ukrainian universities were most widely represented in the CUPP program from its inception in 1991?
The universities of Kyiv, Lviv, Luhansk and Donetsk sent the most applicants to compete for participation in the program from the formative years. But in the past five years, students from Mykolayiv, Ostroh, Crimea, Kharkiv have sent increasing numbers of applicants to the Final Selection Meeting. There are now representatives from all of these universities each year and, from this year onwards, there will of course be representatives from universities and/or Ukrainian diasporas of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
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Olexi
Ukrainian student, journalist and a planetary citizen. I invite you to take a look at Central's Europe largest state- Ukraine through Olexi-tinted spectacles. Somewhat approaching unbiased subjectivity :)
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