On October 11, representatives of Huawei Ukraine and the Foundation for Educational Initiatives presented the university management with a certificate of donation of Wi-Fi equipment to provide Internet access to the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute shelters.
The telecommunication equipment worth 220 thousand hryvnias was transferred to Kyiv Polytechnics as part of the Wi-Fi in Shelters project, which is the result of the combined efforts of the scientific, educational, and business communities and is aimed at strengthening the infrastructure of Ukrainian higher education in wartime. This initiative has brought together the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the Foundation for Educational Initiatives, representatives of responsible business, and, in fact, the educational institutions themselves.
Anton Dziuba, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Educational Initiatives, who participated in the ceremony of handing over the certificate for routers and other equipment, said the exact number of recipients of the assistance: "Thanks to Huawei Ukraine, 27 educational institutions have joined this project, and 22 of them are higher education institutions." By the way, according to him, the opportunity to equip Ukrainian universities with Wi-Fi equipment came about thanks to Huawei Ukraine, as the Wi-Fi in Shelters project initially concerned only secondary schools.
It is worth adding that, according to Anton Dziuba, free access to the network in shelters also plays a psychological and therapeutic role, as the ability to follow events and stay in touch even during anxiety calms a person down.
The solemn handover of the last part of the equipment intended for the university (most of it was delivered earlier and had already been installed in the shelters by October 11) and the donation certificate was preceded by a discussion about the cooperation between Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and Huawei Ukraine and its future prospects. The company plans to create a new educational and research laboratory at the university.
"We donated equipment that will help students study and conduct research safely during air threats and shelling. In addition, we presented a project to establish a new renewable energy laboratory together with Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, for which we will provide the necessary equipment," Tony Cao, Deputy Director of Huawei Ukraine, summed up the meeting during a conversation with university media representatives.
"We are now consistently installing such points in different buildings, but each of our shelters will be equipped with Internet access without exception," explained Anatolii Melnychenko, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, "It is worth adding that we already have experience in installing telecommunications equipment provided by Huawei Ukraine at the university, and these are not only Wi-Fi points, but also switches that provide access to high-speed Internet. We have also equipped our Sanctuary Points with them and will continue to do so. That is, we have very good assistance to ensure a continuous learning process and, especially, to provide access to wireless Internet during training in shelters in offline and online modes." He also spoke in a little more detail about the laboratory to be opened at the university: "Huawei is going to implement another project in Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. This is the provision of equipment for the arrangement of a new laboratory at the Faculty of Electric Power Engineering and Automation. In the near future, it will be provided with equipment that will allow us to implement renewable energy projects and train students. It will be a unique laboratory. And I really hope that by using such equipment we will be able to take a leading position in training students for this industry."
Project "Wi-Fi in shelters of educational institutions"
Huawei Ukraine and the Foundation for Educational Initiatives donated telecommunication equipment for shelters to Kyiv Polytechnics.
The equipment will allow students and teachers not to interrupt the educational process even during an air raid.