"Kyiv Polytechnic" continues to acquaint readers with the reports of the vice-rectors of the university on the work in 2023. Next in line are the materials of the report of the Vice-Rector for Scientific and Pedagogical Work O. Zhuchenko at the meeting of the Academic Council of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute on March 4, 2024.
In 2023, the university management scheme was updated in terms of subordination of departments to the Vice-Rector for Scientific and Pedagogical Work, and accordingly, his functional responsibilities: in addition to traditional areas, he was additionally entrusted with the responsibility for organizing and controlling the activities of the Department of Educational Work, the Military Mobilization Department, the Center for Culture and Arts and the H.I. Denysenko Scientific and Technical Library.
One of the main functional responsibilities of the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs is to organize interaction and coordinate the work of the university departments. Therefore, in order to ensure effective interaction and coordinated work at all stages of the implementation of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Development Strategy, coordination meetings are held on a regular basis.
It is clear that in the context of martial law and the reform of the higher education system, the university is constantly facing additional challenges, in particular
- The outflow of academic staff and students of all levels of higher education outside the country;
- radical updating of the list of specialties;
- introduction of grants for training instead of state orders;
- introduction of formula funding;
- the need to intensify project and grant activities;
- intensification of accreditation of educational programs at three levels of higher education, including by international agencies;
- the need to intensify work for international recognition, raising the university's place in world university rankings, and others.
However, one of the main tasks of the university is to train highly qualified, competitive, and demanded specialists in the labor market, which begins with the formation of a high-quality contingent of higher education applicants. And this cannot be achieved without an effective career guidance platform, whose activities cover not only graduates of secondary education institutions, but also those who are still studying there. That is why we are constantly implementing measures aimed at generating interest among schoolchildren and creating a positive image of the university. These include holding Engineering Schools, Open Days and, especially, support for gifted youth in close cooperation with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
High-quality career guidance is impossible without the use and constant maintenance of modern information resources, including telegram channels, chat bots, social networks, websites, etc.
In 2023, more than 130 Faculty/Institute Open Days and four large-scale university-wide events were held: three KPIabitFest and one Applicant Day. All departments should be involved in this crucial work at all levels and understand that successful career guidance activities are the key to a successful admission campaign.
Unfortunately, this is the second admission campaign we have conducted under martial law. Nevertheless, we managed to create a comfortable microclimate on the university campus and provide proper support for the 2023 admission campaign, for which we should thank everyone involved.
Regarding the bachelor's degree program, it is worth noting that in 2023, despite the martial law, KPI had a high competition for applications. The average competition at the university was 6.31 (6.36 in 2022) people per place, which indicates a high interest of applicants in our university and the educational programs we implement.
The maximum volume of government orders has been growing positively in recent years. In 2023, it amounted to 4865 people. For comparison, in 2022 it was 4691, and in 2021 - 4477 people.
Analyzing the number of bachelor's degree students enrolled depending on the source of funding, we see that the number of students enrolled in the state-funded form is almost the same as in the previous year (3765 in 2023, 3774 in 2022). However, the number of contract students increased by 22% compared to 2022 (1513 in 2023, 1240 in 2022), even though the cost of contract education increased by an average of 30%.
A generalized picture of budget and contract enrollment compared to previous years is shown in the diagram.
Comparing the results of enrollment of bachelors in state-funded places at our university with the results of other higher education institutions, we can state that Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute has been the largest executor of the state order for several years in a row, by a large margin ahead of other higher education institutions in Ukraine.
As for the master's program, in 2023, more than 7200 applications were submitted, and the average competition for applications was 3.91 people per place (4.87 in 2022).
The statistics on the number of enrolled in the master's program on a budget and contract basis by faculty/institute are presented in the diagrams. As for applicants from other higher education institutions, their number increased significantly and in 2023 amounted to 24% of the total number, compared to 8% in 2022. This demonstrates the high interest of applicants in our master's programs.
Comparing the number of enrollees in the master's program in 2023 with the two previous years, we see a slight increase in the number of people enrolled in state-funded places. The number of enrollees on contract decreased by 18.6% compared to 2022, which indicates a more thorough competitive selection process to form a high-quality contingent of motivated applicants. However, compared to the pre-war year of 2021, we have a 64% increase in the number of master's students studying under contract.
Comparing the results of enrollment of masters in state-funded places at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute with the results of other higher education institutions, we see that, as in the case of bachelors, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute ranks 1st among Ukrainian universities.
Thus, the generalized results of the admission to Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute indicate a fairly successful, despite the difficult situation, admission campaign in 2023 and the popularity of our university among applicants. But now, without delay, we need to get involved in the 2024 admission campaign.
Traditionally, special attention is paid to the issues of comfortable adaptation to the educational process of freshmen, training and organization of students' leisure time. In particular, an important element of the organization of work with applicants is information support and their involvement in the university's information space.
It is worth noting the effective work and thanking the deputy deans/directors for education who are members of the council for educational work.
One of the key elements of the KPI information space is the Scientific and Technical Library, which, together with the KPI community and for the KPI community, develops a creative, comfortable and safe environment that promotes research, learning, teaching, self-development and academic integrity, with the aim of building a world-class university. As of the beginning of 2024, the library's collection includes more than 2 million paper copies, 57 thousand documents in the ELAKPI university repository, access to more than 100 databases, and 10 collections in the digital library.
In order to ensure quality fundamental training, the Center for Innovative Monitoring of Education Quality (CIMEQ) has organized adaptation courses that allow students to eliminate deficiencies in knowledge of fundamental disciplines. Comprehensive monitoring of the quality of the residual school knowledge of freshmen and annual rectorial control of the residual knowledge of senior students is carried out.
Despite the difficult conditions, in order to ensure high-quality professional practical training, the university constantly increased the number of educational components in 2023, in which certain types of classes are conducted in full-time mode in compliance with security conditions. Thus, the number of students studying in a mixed mode increased from about 3.5 thousand in May 2023 to 10 thousand in February 2024, and the number of such educational components doubled. Here we should especially note the Institute of Aerospace Technologies, where even for first-year students some types of classes are held in person. This increase was made possible by increasing the number of places in the shelters of the university campus.
Despite the importance of maintaining the contingent of applicants, KPI does not reduce the requirements for the quality of education. This is evidenced by the dynamics of deductions in recent years (about 5% of applicants during the academic year). Thus, in the academic year 2022-2023, more than 2 thousand students were expelled.
It should be noted that about 1% of students annually receive repeated educational services, academic leaves and individual schedules.
One of the motivational components for students is a scholarship. In particular, in the reporting year, the number of scholarship holders who received academic scholarships was more than 5.8 thousand (almost 1.4 thousand of them for special academic achievements). There were also 42 personalized academic scholarships, 54 from enterprises and 1570 social scholarships, the number of which, unfortunately, is growing every year.
Recently, psychosocial support, inclusion, volunteering, and civic engagement have gained particular importance. A significant contribution to these areas is made by the student social service, which provides psychological counseling, forums, trainings, volunteer activities, etc.
The Student Consolidation Center is fully operational, hosting charity events and various clubs.
The Center of Culture and Arts is effectively functioning to unleash the creative potential of KPI students and staff, which has hosted about eight dozen events, including charity concerts, performances, exhibitions, and others.
Various hobby groups and clubs continue to operate, involving more than 800 students. Olympiads, competitions and hackathons are held, in which more than 370 KPI students became winners of different levels.
Special attention should be paid to national and patriotic education and the formation of students' conscious attitude to events in the country. In particular, in 2023, more than 200 Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute students took a course under the National Resistance Forces Training Program and received the relevant certificates.
Despite the difficult situation in the country, the number of active agreements and participants in academic mobility programs increased in 2023, and the total amount of grants increased by 36%. At the same time, it should be remembered that international academic mobility is certainly a positive practice, but it should not turn into a global outflow of talented young people abroad.
The activities of the Career Guidance Department - Career Development Center are aimed at forming a conscious attitude of applicants to their future profession. Various career events are held on a regular basis, with more than 1.5 thousand participants.
The ordering, maintenance and issuance of student cards and documents on higher education for university graduates was organized in a timely manner.
High-quality implementation of the educational process is impossible without an effective system of internal quality assurance of higher education, which includes a transparent competitive selection of teaching staff, a system of reporting and rating of teaching staff and departments, internal and external accreditation of educational programs, their post-accreditation monitoring, etc.
It is impossible to fulfill the tasks set before the university without a well-thought-out and effective personnel policy that takes into account modern requirements.
During the reporting period, competitions were held to fill 614 vacant positions, including 17 for heads of departments. One of the key roles is played by the balance of the staff, i.e. a combination of the experience of the most qualified NPDs and the energy of young people: we have more than 70% of NPDs aged 23 to 55, about 25% aged 56 to 75, and 5.2% aged over 75.
We continue to rejuvenate the teaching staff by engaging master's and postgraduate graduates in teaching, in particular, 83 such persons were hired as teaching staff in 2023.
One of the necessary conditions for the professional growth and improvement of teaching skills of the teaching staff is to improve their qualifications. For this purpose, the most favorable conditions have been created at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute: the Institute of Postgraduate Education operates, where modern training programs are implemented, according to which 550 students were trained in 2023. The following programs are being implemented: Military Psychology, Prosthetic Rehabilitation, and Limb Prosthetics.
During the reporting period, 280 academic staff members and 171 academic staff members completed advanced training in leading domestic scientific, educational, and industrial institutions (81 of them traveled abroad and 90 remotely).
In 2023, the work of the Slavutych branch of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute intensified, on the basis of which postgraduate training and retraining of nuclear industry specialists is carried out, joint research work is carried out, and an international project in the field of nuclear energy and safety was prepared and submitted for participation in the competition.
In order to determine the quality of the departments' research and teaching staff, the university has a rating and reporting system that is constantly being improved. Annual reporting of the academic staff is provided for by the Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education".
The reporting is based on the implementation of the individual plan, the fulfillment of the licensing conditions for educational activities, the results of the semesterly survey of students "Teacher through the eyes of students" and the ratings of the teaching staff.
The rating system for evaluating the activities of the teaching staff was further improved, in particular, more than 60 proposals from the departments were processed and updated scoring standards were approved, taking into account possible changes to the legislation.
In addition, the Recommendations of the Academic Council on determining the terms of contracts with the academic staff were updated, which are based on the most significant indicators of the university's activities and are a significant motivating factor for the academic staff to improve their professional achievements, and as a result, the university as a whole.
In today's environment, it is crucial to strengthen international project and grant activities at all levels, in particular, the contracts of department heads have been supplemented with relevant clauses.
In today's conditions of HEI functioning, high-quality training is possible only with an effective system of internal quality assurance of higher education, in which all university departments are involved and closely cooperate. The reporting system is constantly being improved, in particular, the automated system "Unit Profiles" has been updated and implemented, which automatically calculates the rating of departments based on indicators for all types of activities.
Every year, the departments conduct a self-analysis of their activities, which thoroughly analyzes the performance of the units that directly implement educational programs.
By the way, it is worth noting the systematic monitoring of compliance with the licensing conditions for conducting educational activities, which are particularly important for experts during the accreditation of educational programs.
As part of the self-analysis, updating and modernization of the EP, we must take into account the new challenges of the martial law economy model, in particular
- The need to respond promptly and make the necessary changes to the MEP to strengthen the state's defense capability;
- the need to strengthen close cooperation with stakeholders, especially in areas related to the country's security sector;
- the peculiarities of the new list of fields of knowledge and specialties;
- European integration processes.
Thanks to an efficient and effective system of internal quality assurance of higher education, 208 educational programs have been accredited at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute over the past three years, 11 of which have been designated as "exemplary". By the end of 2024, we plan to have 245 accredited programs under the full procedure. In 2023 alone, a record number of 113 educational programs were accredited, which is more than half of all KPI educational programs accredited by the NAQA since 2020. We would like to thank everyone who was involved in the relevant procedures!
KPI is actively developing cooperation with the European Network of Engineering Education Accreditation Agencies, within the framework of which 5 accreditation examinations were conducted by international agencies in 2023. In addition to the accreditation decision, these programs receive international recognition of engineering training in the form of the EUR-ACE® Label.
The high quality of educational programs and the effectiveness of the system of internal quality assurance of higher education at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is confirmed by the accreditation rating of educational programs of Ukrainian higher education institutions 2019-2022 published by the Center for International Projects "Euroeducation", in which Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute took first place among 206 Ukrainian higher education institutions.
The university continues to work on improving the internal quality assurance system. In particular, special attention is paid to the post-accreditation monitoring procedure provided for by the Law "On Higher Education". At the invitation of the NAQA, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute took part in an experiment on post-accreditation monitoring of educational programs and successfully passed it.
The experience of participating in such an experiment allowed us to quickly introduce an internal post-accreditation monitoring procedure at the university, which involves the creation of a comprehensive system of annual analysis, systematization and control over the implementation of expert recommendations.
Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was also recognized by the State Education Quality Service of Ukraine, which monitored the risk levels of 290 higher education institutions in 2023. According to the results of the assessment, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was confirmed to have the lowest degree of risk in the implementation of educational activities, which indicates the high quality of training at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
The issue of quality of education, especially in times of war, is relevant at all levels, and our university should really be an example for other universities not only in Ukraine but also in other countries. On February 14-15, a two-day strategic meeting of the Ukrainian delegation with the leadership and experts of the European Association and the European Register of Higher Education Quality Assurance Agencies took place in Budapest in a mixed format, where the KPI's internal quality assurance system was presented, the effectiveness of which is one of the highest in Ukraine.
In conclusion, we would like to note that in 2023, despite all the challenges, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute celebrated its 125th anniversary. Our cohesion and hard work allowed the university to maintain its leadership position, but there is still a lot of work to be done!