This year's traditional session of the teaching staff of Igor Sikorsky KPI, which took place on August 29, began with some delay. Of course, this was not due to its participants, who gathered on time in the hall of the Academic Council of the university, but due to the announcement of an air raid alert throughout Ukraine. The all-clear signal sounded about half an hour later, and only then did everything go according to plan.
First of all, the participants of the session honored with a minute of silence the memory of the Kyiv residents who died the day before during a massive Russian air attack on August 28, and the fallen defenders of Ukraine. Flowers were laid at the monument to the fallen heroes by female cadets of the ISZSI.
"Let me congratulate you on the start of the academic year! This is always an event at the university. And, of course, like any beginning, like any reboot, it is always a renewal. More than four and a half thousand bachelor's students have joined the university family, and more than one thousand eight hundred young people have enrolled in master's programs," said the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, a graduate of KPI, and now Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Igor Sikorsky KPI, Oleksandr Kornienko, who participated in the meeting, began his welcoming speech to teachers, researchers, administrative staff, and students of KPI with these statistics. However, his speech was not only a greeting. He reminded the audience of the challenges that domestic higher education has faced in recent years: first due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and later due to the full-scale war unleashed against Ukraine by the Russian Federation. He spoke about approaches to overcoming these challenges and modernizing the higher education system, which are currently being developed by members of parliament in collaboration with members of the government and educators. Oleksandr Kornienko focused separately on the issues of training engineering personnel to meet the needs of the defense industry and reviving the industrial and economic potential of our country after the end of the war. In particular, the First Deputy Speaker mentioned the introduction of the dual education model, one of the pioneers of which in Ukraine is Kyiv Polytechnic University. He also spoke about the contribution of Kyiv Polytechnic engineers to the defense of our state and to the work for Victory. “Let's do good things together and develop our higher education and our university together!” he emphasized to applause at the end of his speech. After his greeting, he presented Certificates of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to several university teachers and researchers.
Detailed information about the university's work during the past academic year, the achievements of the staff, and the problems and tasks facing KPI in the new academic year was presented in a report by the rector of Igor Sikorsky KPI, Anatoliy Melnychenko (the text of which we are publishing in this issue).
The beginning of a new academic year is a celebration. And a celebration remains a celebration even in difficult times of war. So, at the end of the session, the participants were greeted with Ukrainian songs by the vocalists of the KPI People's Academic Choir under the direction of Honored Artist of Ukraine Natalia Kryachko (who, by the way, gave a wonderful solo performance of the Ukrainian folk song “Nych yak misyachna”) and the well-known professional ensemble, which is a great friend of the university, the Academic Chamber Choir “Khreshchatyk” (artistic director – Honored Artist of Ukraine Pavlo Struts).
Igor Sikorsky KPI held a solemn session of the 2025 faculty, which symbolically marked the official start of the new academic year!
📌 Honoring the memory of Kyiv Polytechnic students who gave their lives for the freedom and independence of Ukraine
📌 Report by University Rector Anatoliy Melnychenko on the main achievements of the past academic year and strategic tasks for the near future
📌 Honoring Igor Sikorsky KPI scientists for their significant results and contribution to the development of the university
📌 Performance by the choir of the KPI Center for Culture and ArtsOleksandr Kornienko (First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Igor Sikorsky KPI) visited the university to personally congratulate the staff on their achievements for the current year and present the awards of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
YouTube broadcast of the session of the teaching staff of Igor Sikorsky KPI on August 29, 2025