Киевский политехнический институт в условиях войны: вызовы и решения

Public technological university in Kyiv, Ukraine

Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (official long title as National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute") is a public technological university in Kyiv, Ukraine.

In 2022, during the full scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute faced new challenges arising from the conflict.

KPI expressed active support for the defense of the country. The university created a charity fund to purchase military equipment at the request of students and graduates who joined the Armed Forces.

The University of Sheffield began cooperation with KPI, which provides a wide range of practical assistance. The partnership will see the University of Sheffield donates £20,000 to build a bomb shelter on the KPI campus. It will also provide laboratory equipment and open access to its library resources, enabling KPI staff and students to access various online journals, texts, and resources.

One of the crucial steps KPI took was moving its critical digital infrastructure to cloud storage. This made it possible to ensure the university's functioning virtually, mainly to conduct training in remote mode and to ensure the management and storage of large volumes of data. The initiator of this process was Andrii Hubskyi, a KPI graduate who asked his partners to assist in matters of communication with the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Thanks to his efforts, cooperation with Amazon was established, and the process of migration of critical digital infrastructure to the cloud environment was implemented.

There are several security points on the university campus. One of them is in the first building. Employees of the Department of Property and Social Affairs created it. The room has laptops, high speed Starlink Internet, light, and printing equipment. The item is located in the 157th office. In total, at least five such points operate on the territory of KPI.

KPI presented the project of the innovative bomb shelter CLUST SPACE, which is being created in the central library. The bomb shelter will be located in a basement with an area of 600 square meters. The design project of the multifunctional shelter was developed by the studio of architect Pavlo Peker, who has experience working with similar projects in Iraq and Libya.

The university has two campuses, the central one being located in Kyiv, and the other in town of Slavutych. The Kyiv campus of the university is located near the city centre in a park named after the university. Almost 9,000 students from outside Kyiv are accommodated in 21 dormitories, 3 of them for married students. The living conditions at the dormitories is a matter of numerous complaints of their inhabitants, with four people sharing a single room measuring 18 square meters. The institute has an outpatient medical department for employers and students. The institute also considers organized leisure a very important factor in bringing up young specialists. The Knowledge Square is the centre of the entire KPI complex, measuring approx. 105 x 100 meters. The Knowledge Square is connected to one of the city's main thoroughfare, Prospect Peremohy (Victory Avenue). Meetings, festivals, and graduation ceremonies take place at the square. The university also has an assembly hall with 1,750 seats. It was opened in August 1984. Various sport facilities also exist at the institute. There are training grounds, soccer fields, volleyball and basketball courts for student use. There are many nationally rated athletes among the students of this institute. Some Institutes were organized on the KPI basis. Among them are: the Civil Engineering Institute, Technological Institute of Light and Food Industry, the Institute of Civil Aviation, Automobile and Road Building Institute, Agricultural (now Agricultural Academy) and others. In 1934–1944 the KPI was called an Industrial Institute.

The Summer school Achievements and Applications of Contemporary Informatics, Mathematics and Physics (Summer School AACIMP) is an annual international scientific educational project of volunteers from the university's Student Science Association. It is aimed at an international audience of advanced students, postgraduates and young scientists. There are usually about 100 participants. It has been traditionally held each August since 2006. As a rule, the duration of the project is two weeks.

About 70% of KPI teachers have scientific degrees. Among them there are Academicians and Corresponding Members of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Professors, and Merited Scientists. The language of instruction is predominantly Ukrainian, with options of Russian and English also available. A number of the university's rectors served as ministers of education, including the current rector Mykhailo Zghurovskyi. The UNESCO CEPES (European Centre for Higher Education) ranked Kyiv Polytechnic Institute as the best university in Ukraine.

The university has a well developed infrastructure of recreation and leisure, including sports, entertainment, arts, and others. The university has a sports complex with an indoor swimming pool, a multi hall building, and a soccer field. The Kyiv Polytechnic Institute has been an important center of sports life in the city. Its football team "Politechniki" was one of the first football teams founded in the Russian Empire in 1906–1917. The university has several recreational resorts throughout the country. Two resorts are located near Kyiv, one is located in Carpathian Mountains, and another near the Black Sea. The university has its own arts center located in Center of Culture and Arts, better known by its Soviet standard name "Palace of Culture". The concert hall of KPI Center Culture and Arts is the main venue of the Ukrainian national qualification for continental song contest Eurovision. There is a park in the grounds of the university.

The Kyiv Polytechnic Institute has foreign economic relationship with 45 foreign partners from 12 countries of the world. 29 agreements and 17 contracts have been concluded and 77 protocols have been signed: KPI received the certificate as a participant of foreign economic relationship. The most active international scientific and technological cooperation is carried out by the chairs of the institute with the partners from Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Denmark and Lebanon. Lately the relationship with China, United States, Italy, Vietnam and Spain have become more active. The institute carries out the exchange of students according to the agreement on cooperation with the University of Oregon, United States. KPI was the first university of Ukraine that joined the community of the European Universities, and signed the Magna Charta Universitatum in September 2003.