The Seeds for the Future international educational programme organised by Huawei brought together 150 students from 23 countries in Rome this year. The main topics of the event were: innovation, digitalisation, sustainable development and entrepreneurship. Among the participants were five talented students from five leading Ukrainian universities. Anastasiia Sydorenko, a fourth-year student of the RTF, represented Kyiv Polytechnic.
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Women inspire. This summer was very busy for the student. First, in mid-June, she took part in the Women's Perspectives in Technology Summit (Poland) as part of the Ukrainian delegation. For two days at five venues, the participants had the opportunity to listen to lectures by IT experts on quantum computing, human-machine interaction, neurodiversity, data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud solutions, as well as digital ecology and cybersecurity. The students and their mentors were offered dozens of workshops and about a hundred exhibition stands from leading IT companies.
Welcoming the participants, Bianka Siwinski, the head of the Polish Educational Foundation ‘Perspektywy’, a long-standing and reliable friend of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, asked: ‘What revolution was the only one that has been successful in the last 100 years?’ And she answered: ‘It is the women's revolution, women have really changed and continue to change their social role. Technology plays a huge role here. And we are part of these changes!’ Anastasiia talks enthusiastically about the trip: ‘I am sincerely grateful for the opportunity to attend this event! It was the best summit I have ever been to, and I still remember it with a smile. Bianca Siwinski, the CEO of this summit, became my inspiration and role model. It is powerful and inspiring to create a grand technical project that brought together women from 88 countries and became a motivation for each of them.’
First love. From the story of her trip to Poland, we move on to university life. Today, A. Sydorenko is studying Telecommunications and Radio Engineering. He talks willingly and in detail about his difficult choice of university and his love for it: ‘When the question of choosing a profession, speciality or educational institution arose in the 8th grade, I had no clear answer. At school, I liked mathematics and English, but I also liked other subjects, so it was difficult to choose. However, after I came to Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute for an excursion, I knew that I would enter this university and study on a budget, no matter what it cost me. My mother jokingly calls Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute my first love. I wasn't sure which faculty to choose at the time, but I started to study better and later prepared for the external independent evaluation. Almost the entire academic year of the 11th grade, I did not know where to enter and was very worried about it, although I already knew which speciality to choose. I shared my feelings with absolutely everyone, even with the parents of my friend, who graduated from RTF and had the same speciality that I dreamed of for myself. That's why I chose the RTF out of all the faculties and have never regretted it. When people ask me about the faculty, I warmly tell them about our outstanding teachers and vibrant student life. I am proud to belong to a large RTF family of radio seals.’
Mentors. The girl speaks of her teachers, to whom she would most like to say ‘thank you for being in my life’, with inspiration and emotion: ‘Every teacher of our faculty was involved in making me and other students the best specialists: they explained in detail the incomprehensible, helped even outside of class time. And I am very grateful to them for that. Iryna Oleksandrivna Prykhodko became the supervisor of my group from the first year of study, and since then she has supported us in absolutely everything. We really appreciate her and respect her as a teacher and a person. I would also like to mention Yana Leonidovna Singer, who is passionate about teaching her subject and is always happy to help students. Her classroom has become a special place for each of us. RTF teachers, you are incredible, so I would like to recognise all of you.’
The ‘seeds’ are germinating. Another important event this summer was a trip to Rome for Anastasia. ‘Just imagine: five Ukrainian girls from technical universities among one and a half hundred multilingual students from all over the world,’ she shares her impressions. There was even one first-year student from Ukraine, but her public speaking skills and ability to engage in dialogue would be the envy of many a master's student.’
It is worth noting that English was useful not only in communicating with peers, but also, and importantly, for participating in scientific events: the programme participants learned about the latest trends in 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, climate change, etc. In particular, students attended lectures on 5G and Digital Energy and Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Services. Masterclasses and training sessions on professional skills development were also organised for talented young people by leading Huawei specialists. Then, under the guidance of mentors, the students developed digital solutions to overcome challenges and ensure sustainable development of local communities, as well as prepared and presented their own startups as part of the Tech4Good competition.
‘Each of us had many ideas for the project (startup), but as a team of five from Ukraine and three from Romania, we eventually decided that it would be interesting to improve the existing ‘smart bin’ (a device for separating glass, paper, waste, etc.) and add a bonus system to encourage Ukrainians to sort their waste,’ says Anastasiia. - ‘At first glance, the project is not a global one, but you'll agree that it's time to put things in order in this area: it's good for the environment and you can earn/save money. So, the smart bin weighs and identifies what people have thrown in/out, sends it to the right bin, and then credits the user's account with bonuses that are valid in a particular supermarket. In this way, we reach a large target audience and interest all parties.’
Representatives of Huawei, which is a business partner of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, emphasise that Ukraine has been a regular participant in the Seeds for the Future programme since 2016. During this time, 100 Ukrainian students have taken part in the programme, and the most successful of them have been trained and visited the Huawei headquarters in Shenzhen. The Seeds for the Future programme is open to university students with high academic results who live in Ukraine, are actively interested in technology, want to work in the ICT sector and use technology in various industries. The programme provides an opportunity to gain up-to-date theoretical knowledge and practical experience, which will help young professionals to increase their competitiveness in the labour market in the future.
It was interesting and informative for Ukrainian women (and other participants as well) to get to know the culture and peculiarities of the participating countries as part of the Global Village project. Each country had its own stand/exposition, where participants communicated, shared their impressions and knowledge. ‘Together, we celebrated our differences and discovered our similarities,‘ Anastasia recalls, “It was a truly wonderful experience, and I had the opportunity to sing the famous Ukrainian song ”How Can I Not Love You, My Kyiv’ on the big stage. However, we never forgot who we owe the opportunity to study, travel and tell the world the truth about the terrible war.’
And in conclusion, the girl added: ‘I would like to end my story with a few quotes I heard from the speakers. Perhaps they will motivate you as they motivated me: ‘Whenever you have a crisis, don't waste it’, ‘My failures were huge, but that's how I learnt’. So, we will continue to learn, work and prepare for the post-war recovery of the country.