The National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" (KPI) today has set an ambitious goal — to return students to in-person learning as much as possible. However, as the university's rector, Anatoliy Melnychenko, emphasizes, a simple directive to "attend classes" does not work without safety guarantees.
Safety as a Priority
"First and foremost, we base our decisions on safety," Melnychenko stated in an interview with RBC-Ukraine. The university has established quotas for the number of places in shelters located in academic buildings and dormitories. This is a key factor in planning the educational process.
"Our current policy is to maximize offline learning. However, we cannot simply order everyone to come out without providing shelters," the rector noted. This is why large lecture streams, where many people gather, are not yet being moved to the buildings. At the same time, laboratory work requiring practical training must be carried out by students exclusively offline.
Flexible System: Blended Learning
Faculty heads are analyzing their curricula and determining priority disciplines for the in-person format. Most educational programs at KPI already contain between 30% and 50% of subjects that are conducted offline.
This blended format allows for balancing the workload and optimizing students' time. For example, selected disciplines from the university-wide catalog — philosophy, rhetoric, personality psychology, and other subjects developing soft skills — are scheduled for one specific day, which students attend online. This avoids unnecessary travel and saves time.
Faculties Insisting on Offline Learning
Some university units are fundamentally committed to maximizing offline learning. In particular, this includes the Faculty of Electronics and the Institute of Aerospace Technologies, where practical training is an integral part of the education.
The Phenomenon of IT Students
An interesting phenomenon is observed among students associated with the IT sector. Many of them start working part-time in IT companies as early as their second year, earn a decent income, and do not want to spend time commuting. In other words, it was not the university, but the students themselves who were against offline learning.
"But we still insisted on our position. How can it be that KPI — the flagship of IT education — has students sitting at home," Melnychenko emphasized.
Investments in Safety
To bring students back to in-person learning, on the largest Faculty of Computer Science and Computer Engineering (FCSCE), where 3,500 students study (which is like a separate university), a shelter was prepared over the year, first for 300, and then for another 500 people.
"Now that the faculty has a shelter for 800 places, they can flexibly balance the schedule and study offline," the KPI rector concluded.
Context and Previous Steps
Previously, it was reported that students of the National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" after the start of the full-scale war first switched completely to online learning, but subsequently returned to the classrooms. The issue of the shortage of physicists and chemists at KPI and the possibility of "saving" these professions was also discussed.
Moreover, the issue of the cost of family dormitories for students at KPI remains relevant, which also affects the accessibility of in-person learning.