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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Ukraine

9th June 2010

The toughest exam in Ukraine

What’s the toughest thing you can do to a Ukrainian student sitting an important English oral exam?  How about bringing in the British ambassador to watch your conversational efforts, together with the head of the training institute and a photographer?  That’s what happens when I visit the Kharkiv Aviation University and am shown round the 4th Year English exams by the head of the University, Lieutenant General Tkachenko.

Kharkiv is famous both for its manufacturing and for its educational institutions.  There’s plenty of human capital on display.  During the second part of my stay in the city I meet graduates of the John Smith Fellowships and Chevening programmes who have studied in the UK and returned to Ukraine.  Over lunch, two leading local journalists debate vigorously the state of press freedoms in the country.  I meet workers at the modern factory of a British tea company on the outskirts of the city, currently processing 6-8 tonnes of tea a day into tea-bags and loose-leaf tea for the Ukrainian market.  At the Aviation University I meet teachers who are continuing the invaluable English language training started by the UK’s Peacekeeping English Project.  I visit the new Senior NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) School, where a new body of sergeants is being trained as part of British-supported efforts to help transform the Ukrainian Army into a modern fighting force.  And, on a sweltering June afternoon, I meet the Ukrainian Rugby League team who are playing the BARLA Under 23 team.

Actually the cadets doing their English exams cope well with their unannounced visitors, keeping their cool as their examiners pose questions.  Perhaps this kind of stress is nothing compared with active duty.  As for the rugby players, both sides put up a terrific display.  I’ve seen Ukrainian rugby players before and have been impressed by their physique and determination.  I look forward to Ukraine joining the ranks of the top rugby-playing nations.

About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.