On March 13, 2026, a pleasant event took place at the Department of Marketing of Sumy State University. Despite the widespread associations with Friday the 13th, this day became a symbol of new opportunities, productive cooperation, and important academic initiatives. The new COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) course in business planning, implemented in partnership with the University of Petroșani (Romania), has been successfully launched. This format of international online learning integrates students and teachers from different universities into a common educational space, fostering intercultural interaction and the development of global competencies. During the first virtual meeting, students and teachers from both universities had the opportunity to get to know each other, discuss the course’s main goals, its structure, and plan for further work. The course mentor from Sumy State University is Nataliia Letunovska, Doctor of Economics and Associate Professor of the Department of Marketing, and the partner university’s mentor is Dr. Herbei Roxana Claudia, Lecturer at the Department of Mining Engineering at the University of Petroșani.
The implementation of this initiative was made possible thanks to the active cooperation of the Department of Marketing with the Startup Center “New Generation” of Sumy State University, which, within the framework of the project, provides students with practical business cases and real management tasks. Work on them will be carried out through interuniversity teams, which will allow participants to apply the knowledge gained in a practical context and develop their own business solutions.
Participation in the COIL course offers students wide opportunities to develop intercultural communication, teamwork, and soft skills, and also contributes to the development of practical skills for working on business projects in an international academic environment. Ahead of the participants is an intensive and exciting work on joint projects, culminating in a final presentation of the developed business ideas and solutions. It is expected that this experience will serve as an important stage in students’ professional development and will further expand the Department’s international cooperation.