The idea that education should respond to the needs of society is widely shared by everyone involved in the educational process. To prepare highly competent professionals, universities are committed to attracting talented and motivated applicants.
This provides higher education institutions with broad opportunities for engagement, ranging from building a distinctive institutional identity to working directly with high school students. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute continuously expands its outreach to prospective students through a variety of initiatives, including preparing and encouraging them to participate in academic subject competitions. In this interview, Hanna Shevliakova, Head of the Electronics and Instrumentation Section of the Technical Sciences Department at the Kyiv Junior Academy of Sciences, Senior Lecturer at the Microelectronics Department of the Faculty of Electronics, and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), shares her experience of working with school students.
The Olympiad movement is far more than a game or an intellectual competition. Above all, it is a systematic educational effort and a learning environment where future professionals are shaped. These young people, who pursue in-depth studies in one or more subjects, will go on to work in science, engineering, and technology, strengthen Ukraine's defense capabilities, and contribute to the country's reconstruction. Despite the challenges of war, power outages, and lessons held in cold bomb shelters, mentors continue to work with talented students, supporting their growth and motivation while believing in the successful future of Ukraine.
Mrs. Shevliakova began the conversation by sharing news that brought her great satisfaction: the Kyiv team, which she accompanied to the national stage of the Information Technology Olympiad, achieved an overall victory (in the photo). "I came to this through my work at the Kyiv Junior Academy of Sciences, combining it with my teaching at the department," she explains. "Within the Electronics and Instrumentation Section, we study the fundamentals of electronics, circuit design, and programming Arduino and ESP32 microcontrollers. At the same time, students are actively engaged in project-based learning, which helps them develop engineering thinking, analytical skills, and the ability to work independently. Faculty members from the Faculty of Electronics also contribute to this work by proposing research topics ranging from sensor technologies to comprehensive engineering solutions."
It may sound like just another achievement: an overall victory at the national stage of the Olympiad. In reality, however, that success was the result of many hours of intensive preparation. In just five days, the participants had to become a true team. "Together, we prepared for each stage of the competition and worked through tasks from previous years. My own experience as an Olympiad participant helped me organize the preparation efficiently by drawing attention to common mistakes and suggesting effective approaches to solving problems and tackling the competition as a whole. After each round, we analyzed the tasks together, and the students often came up with different solutions. This kind of collaboration gives them not only knowledge but also an appreciation of diverse ways of thinking and problem-solving," the lecturer explained.
As mentioned earlier, Hanna Shevliakova draws on her own Olympiad experience in her work with school students. "My interest in the Olympiad movement began while I was still at school. In the ninth grade, I started studying programming, and just three months later I won the Informatics Olympiad in my hometown. That was followed by victories at the regional level and participation in the national stage of the competition," she recalls.
"The competitive atmosphere, the community of like-minded students, the challenging problems, and the constant drive for self-improvement played a major role in my journey. As a graduate of a school in a small town in Luhansk Oblast, I was able to earn a state-funded place at one of Ukraine's leading technical universities, the National Technical University of Ukraine 'Kyiv Polytechnic Institute,' as it was known at the time," she adds. She also emphasizes the influence of her mentor: "I owe much of this to Liudmyla Bulyhina, an engineer at the Institute of Physics and Technology and recipient of the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine 2022. She prepared me for Olympiads and academic competitions, inspired me to apply to Kyiv Polytechnic, and later invited me to work with students as a mentor myself. It is thanks to people like her that continuity between generations is preserved and expertise in working with gifted students is passed on."
At Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Hanna Shevliakova has progressed from a student passionate about programming to a senior lecturer who now shares her knowledge with a new generation. She became involved in research during her third year of study and published her first scientific paper as a fourth-year student. In 2018, she enrolled in a doctoral program, motivated, as she explains, by a desire to share her knowledge with others. Immediately after defending her dissertation in September 2021, she began her academic career at the Department of Electronic Engineering. She notes that the teaching profession is far from easy. It requires balancing teaching responsibilities with research while simultaneously handling a substantial number of administrative and organizational duties, with expectations becoming more demanding each year. "But whenever you meet motivated students and school pupils, they inspire you to keep moving forward," the researcher says.
Reflecting on Olympiads and academic tournaments, Hanna Shevliakova emphasizes that these competitions provide students with far more than subject knowledge—they help develop essential practical skills. "Olympiads strengthen individual competencies, teaching students how to tackle complex problems, develop solution strategies, set priorities, and manage their time effectively, since the volume of tasks usually exceeds what can realistically be completed within the allotted time. Academic tournaments, in turn, foster teamwork, collaborative decision-making, and the ability to distribute roles within a group. Equally important is the opportunity to interact with like-minded peers. Preparing together, discussing problems, and exchanging different approaches significantly accelerate students' intellectual growth."
Drawing on her own experience, she believes that universities should play a much more active role in this process. "Higher education institutions should be directly involved in supporting gifted students because Olympiad problems often go well beyond the standard school curriculum. Career guidance through university-based clubs, Olympiads, research projects, and online learning activities should be systematic and begin well before students reach the final year of secondary school," she explains. "Such an approach enables young people to make informed decisions about their future fields of study, while university-hosted competitions and educational events allow students from different regions to become familiar with the academic environment."
Although the war continues, she stresses that some things cannot be sacrificed. "We may be forced to give up many things, but we must not deprive our children of the opportunity to grow, to meet like-minded friends, and perhaps, through these experiences, to help shape a better future for our country. Let us cherish our teachers, and let us cherish our children. Supporting education, science, and teachers today is an investment in tomorrow."