Part of the faculties of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, based in Kyiv, resumed online lectures. The war with russian troops continues. There are casualties among students and lecturers. In addition, there are missing students in Mariupol, in the south of Ukraine, where fierce fighting continues. There is no information about them at the moment. Why did studies resume amid active hostilities? We asked the university's associate professor Mykola Pushkar (35 years old) and his students about this, and we got about their hope for a "post-war revival".
Unexpected start of hostilities
Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, that resumed online learning at some faculties, has about 25,000 students and is one of the best technical universities in Ukraine. Mr. Pushkar works as the Deputy Dean for Educational Work at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Automation. It trains specialists for various branches of energy, in particular for energy production and support the operations of energy systems. Due to the spread of the coronavirus before the russian full-scale invasion, lectures were switched from face-to-face format to online in early February. About 800 students aged 18 to 25 study at the faculty. About 40% of them are from Kyiv, 60% are from the regions, so many of them went home.
On February 24, a military invasion of russian troops began on the territory of Ukraine. "Teachers and students did not expect that. At first, there were a lot of people in Kyiv, all whose thoughts were focused only on how to evacuate their families to safe places,” - Mr. Pushkar recalls.
The faculty also included residents of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, a city where russian occupiers tortured, murdered, and sexually assaulted people.
One faculty member managed to evacuate with his family from Bucha on the second day of hostilities, when combat helicopters hovered over his home. He and his family escaped, but his house burned down. Another faculty member died in mid-March when a projectile hit a high-rise building in Obolon, northern Kyiv.
Hostilities near the university
Fighting also took place near Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. The bullets struck the windows of buildings. Within a radius of 300 metres from the campus recorded the fall of shot. University workers and students were forced to evacuate. Some went to quieter regions of Ukraine, and some evacuated abroad.
We tried to connect with students scattered in different places. University student Anastasia Gorenko, 19 years old, who was evacuated with her mother to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, said: “I want to return to Kyiv as soon as possible and meet my father, who serves in the Territorial Defence. I would like to go to Japan someday,” - she smiles. Anastasia is a fan of the Japanese anime "Attack of the Titans".
There were also students who, having suspended their studies, volunteered for the Armed Forces or the Territorial Defence. There are at least 18 such students at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Automation. There are students who have become volunteers. They repair and operate unmanned aerial vehicles in the combat zone to monitor and gather information. Two FEA students were killed in the war, and one went missing during fighting north of Kyiv. Several employees of the faculty serve in Territorial Defence. In fact, the entire university works under martial law.
The basements of the university serve as bomb shelters. Wireless access points have been set up so that you can use the Internet in the basement.
There are students who have lost their homes or cannot return home, so they still live in university dormitories. There are cases of evacuated families joining; the university and student organisations help them with food and clothing.
"Student organisations raise funds to help students whose parents died in the war with the funeral; they send equipment, bulletproof vests and helmets to students who serve in the Armed Forces, etc.,” - Mr. Pushkar said. Everyone supports each other to survive.
Desire to resume studies
In late March, when hostilities reached a protracted phase, students were interviewed about their desire to resume studies online. 95% answered that they want to. "Many students said that instead of listening to the air-raid sirens in the bomb shelters and reading the news of the war, they would better get back to studies."
The teaching staff decided to complete the course of lectures and conduct exams for students and graduate students. Mr Pushkar says: “If the educational process is cancelled due to the war, it will mean a loss of the year for students. We want to avoid this and graduate bachelors and masters. "
After the invasion of russian troops, power grids and equipment in many parts of the country were damaged. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the north and the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in the south have also been targeted by russian troops and turned into war zones. Mr. Pushkar explains: “Among the specialists in the field of energy there are those who serve in the military, there are casualties. Besides, we have decided to resume studies in order to provide much-needed personnel to rebuild the infrastructure and equipment of our war-damaged energy system."
Faculty members recorded video lectures and laboratory experiments and provided records to students, developed distance learning courses. Currently, more than 90% of students are actively studying in this mode.
At the same time, there are many students and teachers who lost their laptops due to the war. "Listening to lectures on a mobile phone is difficult. Computers are expensive. Students need support. "
Mr Pushkar hopes to strengthen relations with Japan in the prospects of post-war reconstruction. Shibaura University, with which an agreement on academic cooperation has been concluded, provides lectures in English for students of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. By the end of April, six students had already listened to them.
Missing students in Mariupol
Even if online classes are resumed, the danger does not disappear. Victoria Lysenko (19 years old) left for her native Mariupol, an industrial city in the south of Ukraine, which was besieged. After she submitted her online assignment on April 6, we have no comms with her.
"Two of my students have already died. I want her to be well,” - Mr. Pushkar hopes. Her parents sent a short message then: "The basement where our daughter was is under the rubble after the russian attack."
Due to the fact that russian troops, which control the city, do not allow evacuation corridors, Victoria still remains "missing". At the same time her parents were sent to russia, and there are no more comms with them. Mr. Pushkar is worried that they may be in special "filtration camps" where pro-russian views are being assessed.
Student Hanna Zemlyanukhina (26 years old), a friend of Victoria, is currently in Kyiv.
She says: “There are few girls at our faculty, so we were very close with Victoria. She hasn't been in touch for a long time. In early April I got a message from her: “I am in a bomb shelter. I'm fine". I wrote to her "If you need something, I could send it to you through volunteers, could I?", But this message did not appear to be read. "
Research with a view to the postwar period
Hanna is a third-year doctoral student. She is researching technologies related to the use of solar energy. Hanna says: "After the war, expectations for renewable energy will increase" - and you can feel her strong desire for the research to be useful in the reconstruction of Ukraine.
She is currently preparing to work on her PhD and complains: "It's hard to concentrate when the sirens are constantly sounding."
She lives in Kyiv in an apartment with her parents. The bomb shelter is far from home, so when the siren sounds, the family moves into the hallway, where there are walls on all sides. "Because this place seems more or less safe."
Her paternal grandparents live in Luhansk, where there are many pro-russian people who feel a certain closeness to russia. "But for me, their granddaughter, russia is not just a neighbouring country. If the conversation with grandparents is about politics, quarrels are inevitable," - she said.
Her mother's acquaintance was tortured and killed by the russian military. "I am just angry with russia. I don't understand why they do such horrible things to ordinary people." However, Hanna adds: "I do not want to waste my emotions on russian soldiers. What I want today is for the situation in Ukraine to stabilise and the war to end. "