Two important documents were signed on May 14 by the heads of Igor Sikorsky KPI and the subsidiary enterprise “Melexis-Ukraine.” The first document, a Memorandum of Cooperation, was signed by University Rector Anatoliy Melnychenko and Company Director Yevhen Vasyur. Yevhen Vasyur also signed the second document, a cooperation agreement on the organization of dual higher education. On behalf of KPI, the agreement was signed by Vice Rector for Academic Affairs Tetiana Zhelyaskova.
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"We consider your company a strategic partner of the university. After all, our partnership has already lasted 18 years. In historical terms, this is not much. However, this cooperation is of great importance to both of us,“ said Anatoliy Melnichenko, Rector of Igor Sikorsky KPI, addressing the representatives of Meleksis-Ukraine before signing the documents. ”Today, it is reaching a new level and, I believe, will continue to develop."
Indeed, this cooperation began back in 2007, when a joint scientific and educational laboratory of NTUU “KPI” and Melexis was opened at the Institute of Applied System Analysis. Subsequently, a scholarship was established by the company for the best polytechnic students undergoing internships there, and in 2016, a cooperation program with teachers was created. A program for the academic discipline “Analog Electronics” was also developed and agreed upon with specialists from the subsidiary Melexis-Ukraine for the academic discipline “Analog Electronics,” which received a significant material and technical base thanks to the opening of another joint educational and research laboratory at the Faculty of Electronics in 2018—the Melexis–Igor Sikorsky KPI Analog Electronics Laboratory. And just recently, on August 21, 2024, Melexis Ukraine also donated a set of modern electronic equipment to the university to upgrade this joint educational and research laboratory, including a setup board, a “smart” power supply unit, signal generator, oscilloscope for performing relevant measurements, and a multimeter. This additional equipment has increased the number of workstations in the laboratory from six to ten and enabled students to use the latest tools for engineering and scientific activities. This year, the company donated 10 monitors to the laboratory and, together with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, organized and held the Melexis Future Innovation student hackathon at KPI.
The memorandum signed on May 14 defines the main goal of the partnership as consolidating the efforts of its participants to develop effective cooperation, particularly in the educational, scientific, and scientific-technical spheres, and its main areas of focus: organizing and conducting joint educational and scientific events, involving company and university employees as experts and speakers during joint seminars, meetings, and round tables; involving KPI teachers and students to participate on a contractual basis in scientific research work conducted by “Melexis-Ukraine”; possible performance on a contractual basis by university researchers of scientific research, experimental design and other types of scientific work (services) at the request of the company; facilitating the development and integration of the latest digital technologies into the educational process, etc.
The second signed document – a cooperation agreement on the organization of dual higher education – provides for the introduction of dual education at the university under educational programs of specialty G5 “Electronics, Electronic Communications, Instrument Engineering, and Radio Engineering.” For the university, this form of training specialists for the real economy is not new; moreover, it has already proven its effectiveness. “I believe that this type of training is a significant advantage for students,” said Olga Prykhodko, a human resources specialist at Meleksis-Ukraine. "During the implementation of this program, we will sign a tripartite agreement between us as the employer, the university, and the student. This means that while studying for a master's degree, students will have an employment relationship with a potential employer... Already during their studies, they will be able to see how communication takes place, how various processes are organized in the company, and so on. And this, of course, is potentially and strategically better for students, the university, and the company." According to Olga Prykhodko, the company has collaborated with other technical universities in Kyiv, but Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is the first among them with which it has signed an agreement to launch cooperation in the organization of dual education and a memorandum, which is essentially a declaration of strategic partnership.
Yevhen Vasyur spoke about another aspect of the implementation of such a program and about cooperation in general in a conversation with representatives of the university media: "We have employees who were students two years ago, and there are those who studied 20 years ago. Working alongside them encourages today's students, because it is very motivating when you see that you can put what you learn at university into practice... Further expansion of cooperation, of course, depends very much on the situation in the country as a whole. We should thank those who protect us for the fact that we can work at all. We have many plans, and we don't want to promise any golden mountains, but we plan to grow, expand, and change. Now we are giving a new breath of life to our program of work with students to motivate them and make it more interesting for them."
The Faculty of Electronics has been and remains the base unit for cooperation between KPI and Meleksis-Ukraine. “The introduction of dual education is the result of many hours of negotiations and ironing out various nuances, and there are many of them. But our partners agreed to this, and therefore it significantly deepens our cooperation and takes it to a new level,” said Sergey Naida, Dean of the FEI. He also added that all departments of the faculty can train engineers using the dual education model within the G5 specialty, and in the future, the departments of the Radio Engineering Faculty and the Educational and Scientific Institute of Telecommunication Systems may also join. Thus, a new stage in the work of the university and its educational units is beginning.
Currently, about 30% of top specialists in the field of microelectronics and circuit engineering working at Melexis-Ukraine are graduates of our university.
The dual education agreement and memorandum of cooperation will enable the implementation of a number of interesting and important initiatives, in particular at the Faculty of Electronics (FEL), including:
📌 internships in real production conditions at the subsidiary Melexis Ukraine;
📌 organization and implementation of dual education for master's students in the educational programs of the G5 Electronics, Electronic Communications, Instrument Engineering, and Radio Engineering specialty;
📌 signing employment contracts with KPI students, which will guarantee jobs and bonuses based on how well they do in their individual study plans, and more.
Melexis Ukraine is a strategic partner of Igor Sikorsky KPI, and working with this company is a great opportunity for students to: innovative projects, hackathons, expansion of skills and abilities in the field of microelectronics and circuit engineering, etc., a powerful educational, scientific, and research laboratory of analog electronics at the FEL, etc.