On August 30, on the eve of the new school year, a session of the teaching staff of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute took place. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. It was held online, and university teachers received access to it through their offices on the "Electronic Campus". In addition, it was broadcast on the Internet. 1867 teachers took part in it - much more than in previous years, when such sessions were held in the great hall of the CCA. The Rector, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Michael Zgurovsky, made a large report on the results of the last academic year and plans for the future. We offer readers its full text.
Report of Michael Zgurovsky at a session of the teaching staff of
p>Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute on August 30, 2021.
p>Dear teachers, scientists, staff!
p>Let me congratulate you on the thirtieth anniversary of Ukraine's independence and the one hundred and twenty-third anniversary of the founding of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
p>Given the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the livelihoods of all segments of society, foreign policy instability, the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute continued to successfully perform its statutory tasks. In order to avoid outbreaks of the disease and ensure the continuity of the educational and scientific process, we had to introduce distance and mixed forms of education, conduct comprehensive anti-epidemic measures, organize vaccinations of students and university staff.
p>Under these conditions, our work has become more flexible and developed in the direction of digitalization and informatization. Teachers have acquired new competencies in solving problems related to remote work technologies, which will be useful after the end of the pandemic. Online communication has become commonplace, and in some cases has been more effective than traditional forms.
p>The coronavirus pandemic has significantly changed the imbalance between the training system, the manufacturing sector and the labour market. According to last year's report of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the use of remote technologies and automation of operations by 2025 will lead to the loss of 85 million traditional workplaces. At the same time, there may be 97 million new types of work related to machines and algorithms.
p>Already today, responding to these changes, some high-tech companies are launching their own training programs. Such giants of Ukrainian industry as DTEK, Metinvest, ArcelorMittal have created corporate universities in their structures.
p>The Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute should see these processes as a challenge to accelerate transformation. Urgent tasks for the university are cooperation with employers, involvement of business representatives in the educational process, create opportunities for professional development of teachers on the basis of enterprises, implementation of dual training programs, joint research and innovation projects.
p>Having positive examples of starting systematic cooperation with Metinvest, DTEK, Energoatom, Siemens, Progrestech, Huawei, Samsung and others, in general, we cannot consider this area of work successful for most graduating departments. And this is also important given the criteria of the NAQA regarding the need to cooperate with employers in the accreditation of educational programs. In addition, from next year, the Ministry of Education and Science will start using employment indicators for graduates in the relevant fields of knowledge and specialities to determine the state order for universities.
p>Considerable attention was paid to bringing the management system in line with modern requirements. The normative base of educational and scientific activity was practically updated. Following the model of the university, the powers of the dean / director and the chairman of the academic council begin to be separated in the subdivisions. This experience over the last two years has proven effective in the preparation and development of management decisions.
p>One of the new management tools in Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was the introduction of a system of profiles of educational and research units, which reflect the most important aspects of their activities. Of course, the method of calculating profiles will continue to improve, but today we can state that we have a transparent system of objective evaluation of the activities of departments and their heads.
p>An important task of the university is to deepen the processes of informatization of all its activities. Thus, on the basis of the "Electronic Campus" most of the components of the educational process are automated, including distance work, students' choice of disciplines and many other functions. The Sikorsky platform is being filled with new courses. It is enhanced by powerful servers and network repositories, providing access to 9,000 online courses for 10,000 users simultaneously. The introduction of automated electronic document management and personnel accounting systems continues.
p>Dear colleagues! An important component of our work was the system of internal self-analysis of departments and educational programs. It allows you to determine their compliance with modern labour requirements, licensing conditions and accreditation requirements of NAQA. During the last academic year, the first stage of internal accreditation of university departments was held in 302 educational programs and 46 specialties. As a result of this work, 16 departments were reorganized, 90 educational programs were merged, and 41 programs of the first and second levels of higher education were created on their basis.
p>Having accredited the first 35 educational programs through the NAQA in the 2020/21 academic year (20 - doctors of philosophy and 15 bachelor's), in the next academic year we have to accredit more than 40 educational programs, and in 2022/23 their number will be about 180. This is a difficult challenge for the university both organizationally and given the heavy burden on the budget.
p>In general, almost all external experts positively assess the university's regulatory framework, the availability of the "Electronic Campus", the system of sociological surveys of students, teachers and employers, the internal quality assurance system of education. At the same time, experts pay special attention to the need to strengthen the international component of activities within educational programs, the implementation of the principle of "learning through research", the state of the training and laboratory base, interaction with the labour market.
p>Along with accreditation, the issue of strict compliance with license conditions remains relevant. For the first time in last academic year, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute's license to conduct educational activities was renewed under the new rules. The redistribution of license volumes between specialties and educational programs was carried out.
p>Dear colleagues! One of the most important areas of our work is to improve the quality of scientific and pedagogical staff. On a regular basis, we continued to retrain and improve the skills of teachers and improve the system of competitive selection of heads of educational and research departments.
p>During the last academic year, 591 teachers underwent advanced training, including 22 internships at leading institutions of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and 65 had internships abroad.
p>Among the main criteria for the competitive selection of heads of departments are the availability of scientific topics, training of applicants for the third level of higher education, the availability of scientific publications in periodicals, which are included in scientometric databases Scopus, Web of Science and others.
p>Significant steps have been taken to rejuvenate the management of educational and research units. Thus, over the last year, the average age of department heads has decreased from 70 to 49 years.
p>An important element of the internal system of quality assurance in education was the continuation of the rating of research and teaching staff. Currently, it is carried out in the system "Electronic Campus" in a specially created module "Teacher Rating".
p>A new challenge for us will be the optimization of educational programs of the master's level, namely their conceptual processing in accordance with modern trends in science and technology, the demands of employers. It is time to launch interdisciplinary educational and scientific programs of the second level, which require the integration of several specialties and fields of knowledge.
p>We must continue to develop certificate programs that allow students to gain specialized knowledge in the implementation of the choice of disciplines. In total, 29 certificate programs were approved during the last academic year. A significant number of departments have already announced their intentions to start them in cooperation with employers.
p>The process of deeper integration of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute into the European educational space requires the improvement of English-language training of students and research and teaching staff. Given the urgency of the problem, a commission of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Methodical Council on English-language higher education was established.
p>The dual form of education is becoming increasingly important. Today it is successfully implemented with leading domestic and foreign companies, including "Energoatom", "DTEK-Networks", "Antonov", "Southern", "Metinvest Holding", Samsung, "Siemens Ukraine" and others. This form of work provides a thorough fundamental and natural training and practical competencies focused on a particular enterprise or industry.
p>This year our cooperation with Ukroboronprom, with which a strategic partnership program was launched in 2016, was significantly expanded. During this time, the university provided second-level training to 154 managers of defence enterprises. This year the program of advanced training of employees of the design level of the enterprises of the defence concern was opened. The training was attended by 45 students from 23 enterprises of "Ukroboronprom". The next step should be to launch a master's program for the concern, aimed at training specialists in the field of systems engineering.
p>Dear colleagues! The results of the admission campaign are a significant indicator of the effectiveness of the university and all its departments. Over the past five years, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute admission rates have been growing steadily.
p>This year, applicants submitted 54.5 thousand applications. This is 17% more than last year. As a result of the admission campaign, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute became the leader in Ukraine in the total number of recommended entrants for enrolment in budget places (4111 people).
p>The average competition for applications this year for a bachelor's degree was 10.4 applications for one place, for a master's degree - 3.79.
p>According to the results of the admission campaign, 5,850 students were enrolled in the first year, which is 8.5% more than last year. 2182 students are enrolled in the master's program. This is 6.7% more than last year. The number of students in the contract form of education this year amounted to 2138 people, which is 5.3% higher than last year.
p>The system of pre-university training and career guidance work contributes to improving the quality of entrants. Traditionally, high-quality pre-university programs, open days, TechnoArt festivals, AbitFest, online hackathons and other events are of great interest among entrants. It is important to have an active information policy through Internet sites and social networks, which have become the main source of information about the university for applicants and their parents.
p>Approaching the 125th anniversary, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute has launched a system of strategic long-term planning, which is based on the creation of a special fund for the development of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. This work is aimed at the planned, progressive solution of urgent problems of the university in the field of education and research, the development of its infrastructure, the social security of employees and applicants for higher education.
p>The renewal of the material and technical base of the educational and scientific process should be solved both at the expense of the established development fund and on the basis of close cooperation of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute with strategic partners. For example, Energoatom in 2021 provided the Faculty of Heat and Power Engineering with a specialized computer class, and the US Department of Energy and the Argonne National Laboratory provided the university with an analytical simulator to simulate the operation of a VVR reactor unit.
p>Within the framework of cooperation with Siemens Ukraine, the transfer of new high-tech equipment to the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Automation is envisaged. An IT ecosystem is being created on the basis of FIOT, which will consist of a hub, a robotodrome and a smart park, where students together with representatives of IT companies and teachers will be able to develop their own start-up projects.
p>Dear colleagues! Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute's educational work covers all phases of education - from university entrance to graduation and employment.
p>Monitoring the quality of student training shows that forced distance learning over the past year and a half has begun to gradually reduce the percentage of excellent students and those who receive scores in the range of 75-100, and to reduce the percentage of students who completed the session on time compared to last year - 76% to 71%. The number of expelled students according to the results of semester control increased to 5% against 2% last year.
p>Given these challenges, the work of curators of academic groups, in particular the curators of the 1st year, was intensified, thanks to which it was possible to properly organize distance learning. Curators have already been appointed for the next academic year, which will ensure faster adaptation of the new staff.
p>The work of more than 100 scientific, engineering and socio-humanitarian circles, various competitions and Olympiads contribute to the improvement of the quality of education at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Last academic year, the university held 26 student competitions, including 15 engineering and technical, 8 - socio-humanitarian and 3 - natural sciences.
p>Traditionally, the Fifteenth International Open Student Programming Olympiad "KPI-OPEN" was held in July this year. It was attended by 90 teams from seven countries.
p>The high quality of education at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is confirmed by the achievements of our students at the international level. Thus, the team of the Institute of Special Communications and Information Protection became the winner of the NATO hackathon in the category of information management. RTF student Ivan Zagorulkov won a gold medal and a prize for the best ecological innovation at the Seventh International Competition of Young Inventors in Malaysia.
p>Our students' achievements in education and public activities are marked by seven scholarships of the President of Ukraine, 5 scholarships of the Verkhovna Rada, 5 scholarships of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 2 Igor Kurchatov scholarships and a large number of scholarships of partner companies such as Energoatom, Melexis-Ukraine and others. .
p>One of the key tasks of educational work at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was the formation of a culture of academic integrity. Among the main activities - the launch of a refresher course for research and teaching staff, the introduction of the discipline "Academic Integrity" in the university catalog of elective subjects, an open dialogue "Integrity: values in daily actions "and others.
p>Over the past year, the system of physical education has been improved by introducing selectivity of disciplines and types of occupations in various sports.
p>An important task of the university was the campaign to vaccinate students and staff of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. In total, about 80% of research and teaching staff and 45% of university staff were vaccinated. Students are currently being vaccinated.
p>Traditional for Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Job Fairs were held in November last year and April this year.
p>Despite the pandemic, the academic mobility of our students and teachers at the international and national levels has not decreased. During the last year, 22 agreements were concluded (19 international under the Erasmus + program and 3 national ones). 179 participants (58 undergraduate and graduate students and 121 teachers) took part in the mobility programs from Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. In turn, our university was visited by 28 participants (15 students and 13 research and teaching staff).
p>The pandemic highlighted the need for psychological support for participants in the educational process. The Student Social Service regularly organized webinars, individual online consultations with psychologists, literary and musical evenings and other events.
p>Dear colleagues! Research and innovation work is becoming increasingly important for Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute as a research university. In this model, one of the most important tasks is the formation of a qualitatively new educational and scientific environment in which the latest scientific knowledge, advanced technologies would become an integral part of the educational process.
p>In March of this year, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute passed the state certification in four areas: technical sciences, biology and health care, mathematical and natural sciences, social sciences. Also, our university was included in the register of institutions that receive state support for 3 years.
p>Funding for science in Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was carried out from the general and special funds. Last year, 68 research works were carried out with a total amount of UAH 84 million. The leaders were IMZ, TEF, ITS and the Institute of Advanced Defence Technologies. The ratio of funding from the special fund to the general fund was 50%.
p>The main sources of income from the research activities of the university are funding from the Ministry of Education and Science, economic contract work, research services, government procurement and grants.
p>In the first two competitions of the National Research Foundation, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute researchers won 10 grants with the third largest funding in Ukraine. In the new competition "Science for Security and Sustainable Development of Ukraine" the university submitted 17 applications, the results of which are expected in December this year.
p>In order to implement the development strategy of the university, the overlook of inventory of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute scientific schools was carried out, within which 272 scientific groups currently function. Their participants not only conduct research activities, but also are involved in the educational process as guarantors of educational programs.
p>One of the priority areas of work of our scientists was the active development of the University Space Program, some of the projects of which were included in the State Space Program of Ukraine. Today, active work is underway to create a series of the latest micro- and nanosatellites, other space technologies for civil and dual use.
p>The university is actively working to develop a digital country. Created in Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Center 4.0 is registered as the first Ukrainian digital hub on the European Commission's smart platform. The university recently won the EU's Horizon 2020 program in a grant project aimed at supporting digital innovation hubs.
p>Particular attention was paid to the training of scientific personnel. In 2020, our staff defended 19 doctoral and 54 PhD and candidate theses. Among the leaders in the total number of defences - FEL, PBF, FL.
p>The 10th anniversary Festival of Innovative Projects "Sikorsky Challenge 2021", which was attended by representatives of 23 countries, was significant not only for our university, but also for Ukraine. As part of the festival, the Ministry of Strategy and Industry held an International Defence Investment Forum.
p>Participants presented 320 innovative projects. The finalists included 125, a quarter of which were selected by investors for further implementation.
p>One of the key tasks of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was training at the third level of higher education. This year we expect to maintain a positive trend given the number of applications submitted to graduate school, which is now 296 compared to 249 last year.
p>Dear colleagues! An extremely important dimension of the scientific and educational activity of the university is the publishing activity in the publications indexed in the scientometric databases, first of all in Scopus and Web of Science. Motivating this work, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute started awarding scientists for high publishing activity.
p>In order to intensify scientific activities at the university, the competition "Young Teacher-Researcher" is traditionally held. As in previous years, this year 35 winners will receive a 20% salary increase.
p>During the year, work continued in the field of intellectual property protection in terms of selection of inventions, support of their registration, support and commercialization. The created electronic database of KPI patents includes up-to-date information on 350 IPOs. A joint Center for Technology and Innovation Support under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization has been opened with the Ministry of Economy.
p>Denysenko scientific and technical library provided full-fledged information support to students and staff. Introduced the "Book by mail" service; organized remote access to open resources; carried out information monitoring of publication activity of employees; supported an open electronic archive of scientific and educational materials, which contains about 38 thousand documents. Last school year, the library held more than 400 educational events, which were attended by about 15 thousand people.
p>The scientific achievements of our employees are traditionally celebrated at the state level. Thus, by the Decree of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Vanin was awarded the Order of Merit of the III degree; Oleg Anatolitovych Gavrysh and Leonid Dmitrovych Pysarenko were awarded the title of "Honoured Worker of Education of Ukraine". Associate Professor of Information Security Department Oleksii Baranovskyi received the medal "Defender of Ukraine” "for personal contribution to the cause of guaranteeing the national security of Ukraine, professionalism” .
p>Petro Ivanovych Loboda became a full member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine for the Department of Physical and Technical Problems of Materials Science, and Oleksiy Mykolayovych Novikov, Director of the Department of Informatics, was elected a corresponding member of the Department of Informatics.
p>By the Decree of the President of Ukraine, Professor Yurii Mykolayovych Kuznetsov (MMI) was awarded a lifetime state scholarship as an outstanding scientist.
p>The Prizes of the President of Ukraine for young scientists were awarded to Associate Professor Inna Yuriyivna Bilous, Head of the Department Oleksandr Yuriyovych Galkin, Senior Lecturer Tetyana Mykolayivna Lutsenko.
p>Scholarships of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for young scientists have been awarded to 11 of our young colleagues.
p>Dear friends! In the direction of international activity, the tasks of internationalization of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, strengthening the international component in all parts of its work were solved.
p>Active work with diplomatic missions of foreign states continued. In particular, meetings were held with the ambassadors of France, Japan, China, Argentina, Pakistan, Montenegro, Uzbekistan and others.
p>Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute has started cooperation with the Business Association of Japan in Ukraine, which unites more than 20 high-tech Japanese companies.
p>During the visit of the Ambassador of the French Republic to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins, the CampusFrance branch was opened at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, to which students are invited to participate in academic mobility programs and scholarship programs with France.
p>Cooperation with Turkish universities is developing. Within the framework of the Erasmus + program, there was an active exchange of teachers and scientists from Dumlupinar University. With the assistance of the Turkish Embassy, a joint Ukrainian-Turkish center is being established at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
p>Cooperation with China in the field of aviation and space technologies, biotechnology, cybersecurity, and materials science is expanding. A joint Institute of Scientific and Technical Cooperation between Chongqing and Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was established. The Ukrainian-Chinese Space Research Laboratory is being established with the Northwestern Polytechnic University of China. Huawei Ukraine donated modern equipment for scientific and educational purposes to the Huawei Academy at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
p>The Synchrotron Center of Japan "SPring-8" donated unique nanotechnological equipment to the Institute of Materials Science and Welding worth UAH 1.3 million.
p>Since last year, a new system for recruiting foreign citizens to study has been introduced. It is based on the image representation of the university in the world, strengthening the position of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in the world university rankings, taking into account the number of foreign students in the indicators of formal funding of departments.
p>Thanks to these steps, the number of foreign students has increased from 600 to 713 over the last year. However, further growth of their number can occur only if each department brings its educational programs closer to international standards, will properly support the English version of its web resources, will be able to provide teaching disciplines in English.
p>Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute internationalization is deepened through the implementation of 41 double degree educational programs with universities in 11 countries and 55 Erasmus + mobility projects.
p>72 projects were implemented in the field of international project-grant activity in the scientific sphere : three - under the NATO program "Science for Peace and Security", 6 - bilateral, 3 projects - under the program "Horizon 2020". To increase the effectiveness of this work, the SMS will provide assistance to units in preparing international project grant proposals.
p>Dear colleagues! Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute economic services ensured the livelihood of all parts of the university and the social stability of its staff during the difficult epidemiological situation.
p>The property complex of the university was kept at the proper level, which includes more than 80 objects of complex infrastructure, a large adjacent territory. An important event for Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was the opening of a new dormitory for 500 places for graduate students and undergraduates, located on Oleksa Tykhoho Street.
p>In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in all university buildings, special surface treatment with disinfectants was carried out.
p>Landscaping work continued in order to create comfortable conditions for recreation of employees, students and guests of the university. Thus, the work on the creation of the Pioneers of Aviation Square has been completed, in which a new exhibit has been installed - the legendary An-2 aircraft. The planting of a new park zone has started along Borshchahivska Street.
p>Paying tribute to the feat of the Hero of Ukraine, liquidator of the Chernobyl accident, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute graduate Oleksandr Lelechenko, a monument to him was unveiled near the 20th building.
p>One of the most pressing issues in modern conditions has been the problem of fire safety in buildings and dormitories. At the request of the State Service of Ukraine for Emergencies, the university performs a significant amount of work aimed at bringing obsolete fire extinguishers in line with the new "Rules of fire safety in Ukraine".
p>Considerable attention was paid to the recovery of students and university staff. This year, more than 1,400 members of our team have recovered at four recreation centers. More than 1.3 thousand employees and students rested in the "weekend base" mode at the "Polytechnic" and "Sosnovyi" camps.
p>Security on the territory of the university is one of the main priorities of our activity. Together with the units of the National Police, regular patrols were carried out, and video surveillance was expanded in the main working areas of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute territory.
p>The implementation of effective financial management has ensured the stable operation of the university, the timeliness of all types of payments. The salary fund of employees of the university compared to the previous year increased by 11.5%, average monthly salary by 13%.
Dear colleagues! Last academic year was one of the most difficult in nature. Despite the significant disturbances in Ukrainian society associated with the unpredictable spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the university community was able to maintain stability and coherence in its work, demonstrate cohesion and integrity in carrying out statutory tasks. Overcoming obstacles, the university managed not only to ensure stable operation in all areas of activity, but also to achieve significant results in education, research, innovation and business.
p>Congratulations on the start of the new academic year. I wish you good health, inspiration and success in your work.
p>Thank you for attention!