Every year Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute holds student competitions in professional disciplines and specialties of national and international levels. Vitalii Solonukha, Head of the Office of the Organisational Work with Students of DSA, told the “KP” newspaper about the student Olympiad competitions at the University in detail. 

 - I want to refresh the readers’ notion of what a student Olympiad is in general. It is a system of mass face-to-face competitions of students studying at universities. These competitions are held to enhance the educational and cognitive activities of students; intensify and improve training; stimulate creative mastery of knowledge; develop soft and hard skills of future graduates; identify and realize their creative abilities, and scientifically gifted, truly talented youth. To encourage the participants, the winners of these competitions will receive additional points to the success rating, which influences getting academic scholarships. 

The quarantine restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the order of the Ministry of Education and Science №247 of 23.02.2021 “On the abolition of the second stage of the All-Ukrainian Student Olympiad 2019/2020 academic year” made it impossible to organize the first and second stages of the All-Ukrainian Student Olympiad in a traditional form. Therefore, to support and preserve the University Olympiads, the University administration decided to hold it remotely. As of May 25, 2021, faculties and institutes of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute have already organized 23 University and Open University student competitions.  They will also hold 2 more at the faculties and institutes of IPP, IEE, IMSW, IME, FEA, FL, FBT, FMM, FPM, FSL, and FCT. More than 1,700 students from Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and other Ukrainian higher education institutions participated in the Olympiad.

The DSA pays considerable attention to promoting the Olympic movement. Last year, we developed a competition catalog - a complete list of tasks with a description held at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. The catalog includes 54 competitions of the first round and 8 competitions of the second round. The competitions include three fields: engineering (34 tasks at IPP, IEE, IMSW, ITS, IME, FIE, FRE, FEA, FPM), natural (6 tasks at IEE, FBME, FBT, and FCT), and socio-humanitarian (14 contests at IPP, FL, FMM, and FSL). You can get acquainted with the catalog on the website dnvr.kpi.ua

 - As you know, in July 2021, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute will host the 15th International Open Student Contest on Programming Named after S.A.Lebedev and V.M.Glushkov “KPI-OPEN”. Can you tell us more about this competition? 

 - “KPI-OPEN” has been held 14 times. This year, we will organize it for the 15th time in a row. It is one of the largest face-to-face programming competitions in the world. The Olympiad goes according to the original rules, coordinated with the international ones. The absence of registration fees makes it an ideal platform for young programmers from Ukraine and other countries. I want to highlight that, over the years, it has become one of the main calendar events for students majoring in programming at universities in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Besides, many IT companies use the opportunity to find promising employees among students interested in the future profession. 

 “KPI-OPEN” is a full-fledged set of activities consisting of several stages. This year, students tried their hand at solving programming problems in an open test tour, which took place from February to March. On April 28, 2021, the second round took place - the University student Olympiad in programming “IASA-OPEN”, in which 53 teams from 8 institutes and faculties took part: 14 teams from IASA, 11 teams - FTI, 8 teams - ISCIS, 7 teams - FICS, 6 teams - FAM, 3 - IHF, 3 teams - TEF and 1 team FEL. The team IASA_boolWin (the team coach is Iryna Nazarchuk) took first place. The teams: FICS_Ubaltoni (the team coach is Maksym Holovchenko), IASA_Lab_completed (the team coach is Iryna Nazarchuk), and FICS_UndefinedBehavior (the team coach is Kostiantyn Zhereb) shared second place. The teams: IASA_Altair (the team coach is Iryna Nazarchuk), FICS_Suitsydnyky&Katya (the team coach is Ivan Bondar), and IPT_Shuttle (the team coach is Liudmyla Bulyhina) took third place.

The popularity of “KPI-OPEN” is constantly growing, as is demonstrated by the geographic expansion and the growing number of participants in the competition. Over the years, 950 teams, 3,800 students from 16 countries, and 165 higher education institutions have taken part in “KPI-OPEN”. The Olympics will traditionally take place in two rounds. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute will host both stages. During four days, students of programming will compete for the “Crystal Tower” - the main prize of this international programming tournament. Under the terms of the Olympiad assignment, they will solve 8 unique tasks in the first round and 6 tasks in the second. 

The competition aims to find the most secure participants. It also strives to give each of them an impetus for individual professional growth. Equally necessary skills to develop are working in a team and assessing their strengths. Such competitions will show students in which direction to choose in the future. This year the Olympics will be held on July 5-8 in a remote mode with some changes in the participation rules. The Olympiad program is on the website open.kpi.ua.