Representatives of leading domestic aircraft manufacturing companies, teachers of technical higher education institutions and scientists discussed at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute the current issues of development of aircraft engineering education in Ukraine and ways to overcome the problems that stand in the way at the round table "Problems of aircraft engineering education in Ukraine", which took place in the hall of the University Administrative Council on February 14.
The event was held within the framework of the uCAREER project (Aircraft Engineering Education Renovation) with the support of the US Embassy in Ukraine. The goal of the uCAREER project is to create innovative, employer-oriented certificate programs that will train creative and competent engineers in the field of Applied Mechanics, which is in line with the priorities of the State Targeted Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of the Aviation Industry for 2021-2030. By the way, it is funded by the U.S. Department of State with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine as part of the Public Diplomacy Small Grants Program - EDUCATION for 2023. The event was also supported by reliable partners of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute - St. Volodymyr's Charitable Foundation and Progresstech Ukraine. One of the organizers of the roundtable was the Educational and Scientific Mechanical Engineering Institute of KPI.
"Last year our university started cooperation with the University of Arizona (USA). Now this cooperation is embodied in a number of joint projects that the Mechanical Engineering Institute of our university is working on together with the College of Engineering of the University of Arizona. We are also working on the program "Renovation of Education in the Field of Aircraft Construction," said the rector of the university, Mykhailo Zgurovsky, at the beginning of the meeting.
Representatives of the National Aerospace University "Kharkiv Aviation Institute", National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute", National University "Chernihiv Polytechnic", Kherson National Technical University, Lutsk National Technical University, National Aviation University, and professors of the Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the University of Arizona and Old Dominion University took part in the roundtable. Representatives of the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, Antonov State Enterprise, Ukrainian Research Institute of Aviation Technologies, Yuzhnoye State Design Bureau, Aerocopter LLC, and others also shared their vision of training specialists for the aircraft industry.
In addition to purely educational issues, the participants of the roundtable paid considerable attention to the peculiarities of using composite materials in the production of modern aircraft as very promising for the industry and teaching the basics of their use. By the way, Olesia Zhupanska, a professor at the University of Arizona, shared her experience of teaching relevant courses in the United States.
Thus, step by step, national education in the field of aircraft construction is approaching the world standards of training engineers who will create aircraft of the next generations.