Education... It may seem like such a short word, but it has endless meanings. It's not just about approved educational programs and silabuses, memorizing rules and formulas, or even about ratings or evaluation systems. Education is much more than that. It is about unlocking potential, broadening horizons, new challenges and overcoming them. It is education and science that drive progress and innovation.
It seems so simple: step by step, confidently following Plan A, education fulfills its main function. But what if Plan A goes awry because life makes its own unpredictable adjustments? Do we have a plan B? Probably not. But we definitely always have a choice: either to continue trying to follow Plan A, which will not lead to positive results, and in the worst case, will turn a problematic situation into a catastrophic one; or to get together and develop Plan B, which will help us develop further despite all the obstacles. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute definitely chose the second option.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute has faced new challenges. Despite the difficult situation, our university actively took up the task and did everything possible and impossible to fulfill its main function - to develop a progressive and innovative educational and scientific environment, which is the key to the future. That is why today the university is active in the field of international cooperation, because our foreign partners provide considerable assistance in our important mission.
One striking example is the international project RESCUU (Resilience of Education: Sustainability and Cooperation for Ukrainian Universities), which is being implemented with the financial support of the Swedish Institute program. The project was launched in January this year. It aims to support Ukrainian teachers, researchers, and students who remain working/studying at Ukrainian universities. The main goal of the project is to preserve the educational and scientific potential of Ukraine, as well as to prepare teachers, researchers, and students for active participation in the future post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. The project envisages the organization of a number of international events, the main result of which is the synergy of knowledge and experience that is so necessary for the stable functioning of education under martial law, and in the future - to overcome the consequences of the war in Ukraine. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is implementing these ambitious plans together with the project coordinator, Uppsala University (Sweden), and project partners, Poznan University of Technology (Poland), Abo Academy University (Finland), and Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
The first page of the project was opened by Uppsala University, which held an online course "Distance Learning - Tools and Rules". In a situation where Russia's military aggression makes it impossible to carry out the educational process in a full-fledged face-to-face mode (and for a significant part of Ukrainian universities, distance learning is still the only possible option), taking such a course has become a real first aid kit for Ukrainian teachers in organizing synchronous and asynchronous learning. The course helped teachers to deepen their knowledge of technologies, methods and tools for distance and blended learning (in particular, online services for developing practical exercises, modular and laboratory work, etc.) In addition, much attention was paid to methods of organizing intercultural dialogue, including international projects, virtual exchanges, etc. The course was attended by 230 teachers from the member universities of the Baltic University Program, including 74 participants from Ukraine, including 25 from Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. However, the educational segment for teachers did not end there. The Uppsala University course "Education for Sustainable Development" is currently underway and is scheduled to end in March 2024. As part of the course, participants will gain basic knowledge of the key principles of education for sustainable development as a discipline, deepen their understanding of sustainable development and its role in formal and non-formal education, and have the opportunity to attend the final seminar to be held in Riga, Latvia, in the spring.
Students are another university community that needs help in these difficult times. It is extremely important for any higher education institution to retain students, and therefore the project could not ignore student youth, especially since student initiatives often serve as the basis for important changes in the future. Nevertheless, students are the most vulnerable and, at the same time, demanding category in the structure of university life, and therefore organizing student events, especially in such difficult times, is not an easy task. However, the university took on this difficult task without hesitation. As part of the project, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute successfully organized and held two bootcamps. One of the reasons that the events, according to the general assessment of their participants, were surprisingly successful is that the KPI Student Parliament was actively involved in their organization. Its representatives helped to build the structure of the events in such a way that they were interactive, interesting, informative and useful for everyone.
The first bootcamp "International Cooperation in Research and Innovation" was held from April 25 to 28 this year and became the first in-person mass event in KPI, which was held since the beginning of the war. The bootcamp was organized for students and young researchers from Ukrainian universities who want to participate in international research and innovation projects. Student teams from 9 universities took part in it: Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Lviv Polytechnic National University, Western Ukrainian National University, Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University, Sumy State University, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, and Gorbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University. For three days, the participants were immersed step by step in the rich world of international project activities, discovering new professional perspectives, and working in project teams under the guidance of experts helped them gain practical experience in initiating international projects and writing competitive project proposals. On the fourth day, public presentations of the teams' project proposals took place, which were evaluated by an international jury and the winners were selected. According to the expert jury, the first place was won by the team of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, the second place was taken by Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University, and the third place was won by the team of the Western Ukrainian National University.
We are confident that the new knowledge in the field of international cooperation, teamwork, inclusion, and other practices that the bootcamp participants have learned will help them to continue to work successfully as part of research and innovative project teams and will contribute to their career growth.
The second bootcamp took place on October 24-27 on the platform of the Sikorsky Challenge Innovation Ecosystem. It is worth noting that holding the bootcamp on the Sikorsky Challenge platform was an extremely successful decision. The theme of the bootcamp was "Startups and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development," so there was no doubt about holding the event as part of the Sikorsky Challenge 2023 Festival of Innovative Projects.
Throughout October, participants received consultations from Sikorsky Challenge experts to better prepare them for the competition and present their projects to the jury. In addition, during the bootcamp, the project partners held short workshops so that participants could improve their startup ideas. Thus, the participants had the opportunity to listen to presentations from the project coordinator - Uppsala University (Sweden), Poznan University of Technology (Poland), Abo Academy University (Finland), Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Riga Technical University (Latvia).
During the consultations with experienced professionals, the participants were able to finalize their startup projects and present them at the country's well-known innovation platform, as well as get acquainted with the Sikorsky Challenge innovation community.
In the Sikorsky Challenge competition, the bootcamp participants presented 7 projects - from the teams of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Lviv Polytechnic National University, Western Ukrainian National University, Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University, and Sumy State University. A total of 38 people took part in the event, including students from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
The competition jury praised the startup ideas of the bootcamp participants. Thus, according to the results of the competition, the teams of the Western Ukrainian National University and Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute shared third place in their section, the second prize went to the team of Lviv Polytechnic National University, and the first place went to the team of Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University. Moreover, the winners' project was selected by the Sikorsky Challenge Innovation Holding for the free acceleration program, which means that team members can count on expert support from the holding's specialists in developing a business plan, business model, etc. as well as comprehensive assistance aimed at increasing the level of technological readiness of their development.
As the organizers of the event, we are sincerely happy for all our participants. In fact, each of them is already a winner: they have gained invaluable experience, immersed themselves in the atmosphere of a real competition of innovative and breakthrough startup projects, and made themselves known to the innovation community. The participants of the bootcamp proved to be talented, creative and motivated young innovators, ready to open new horizons and conquer new heights in the field of innovation.
The project could not ignore another important university community - scientists. Kyiv-Mohyla Academy took over the organization of events for scientists. In June of this year, an online workshop was held, during which about 20 participants from Ukraine, Sweden, and Poland worked in groups to present their research in the field of ecological recovery of cities and the economy after the disaster. The networking and exchange of experiences allowed them to find common ground and develop new ideas for their future research.
Another workshop was held in September this year. It was devoted to the study of the current state of the environment in Ukraine. The topic is highly relevant, as the environment has been severely damaged by Russian military aggression. In particular, much attention was paid to assessing the consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant caused by Russia.
The final section of the project will be the conference "Challenges of Sustainable Development in the Baltic Sea Region because of the war in Ukraine". The conference is organized and will be held in April 2024 by the Poznan University of Technology. It will be a kind of summarizing of the RESCUU project.
Universities have always been one of the main centers of education and have done everything possible to preserve the educational potential despite all the circumstances. And the RESCUU project is a perfect reflection of this activity of universities, which will always stand guard over education. No matter what happens.