Cooperation with prestigeous university in Ukraine

Recently, Telemark University College (TUC) was granted NOK 2,1 million to further development of their existing cooperation with Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI) in Ukraine. This is one of the largest technical universities in Europe, and more than 25% of all engineers in Ukraine graduate from KPI.

Igor Lebedenko (left), a native Ukrainian and recent M.Sc. graduate from TUC, has been active in establishing cooperation between Kyiv Poølytechnic Instiute and TUC. The picutre shows Igor and TUC Dean Ole Ringdal in front of the main building on the KPI campus in Kyiv in february 2009 (photo: Bernt Lie)

- Telemark University College (TUC) has an ambition to establish cooperation with aknowledged universities around the world in order to develop our own competence. That’s why this cooperation is so important to us, says Ole Ringdal, Dean of TUC’s Faculty of Technology.

Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI) has more than 50.000 students. 25% of all engineers in Ukraine graduate from KPI. This university has produced many well known researchers and students since it was founded in 1898.

Masterstudent initiated cooperation
Cooperation with KPI is the result of an extraordinary effort from one of TUC’s master student.

- Igor Lebedenko came from Ukraine four years ago and recently finished his master’s degree in Systems and Control Engineering at TUC. He had an ambition to initiate cooperation between his home university, KPI, and TUC, says dean Ringdal.

For a shorter periode Igor has been hired by TUC to prepare an application to the Norwegian Center for International Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU) under the so-called Euroasia programme, financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The application was successful and resulted in financial support of NOK 2,1 for the joint project between TUC and KPI. Igor visited KPI togehter with formal delegations from TUC in 2009 and again in 2010, and has all the way been actively supporting the TUc – KPI cooperation.

Exchange of experiences in teaching and research
TUC and their Ukrainian partner have been granted a total of NOK 2 140 000 for a periode of 3 years under the Eurasia programme. The aim of this programme is to contribute to modernisation and internationalisation of higher education in countries in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

TUC signed an agreement with KPI on staff and student exchange and cooperation in research as early as in 2008. TUC has offered a so-called Quota Programme scholarship to students from Ukraine for the last two years.

- Exchange of experiences within internationalisation and quality assurance are important issues in the project. We want to share our experiences and skills in project based learning with our Ukrainian partners. These are some of our strong points, while KPI has a s trong research tradition which may contribute to the continued development of our research based teaching, says Ringdal.

Ukraina strong in math and sciences
In order to establish international cooperation, it is important to offer educational programmes taught in English. Today, TUC offers three different master’s programmes in technology, all taught in English. We suppose our experiences may be of value to our partners in Ukraine.

- Till now, there has not been much contact between Norwegian and Ukrainian research groups, therefor there are many possibilities to establish new and exciting joint projects. In addition to a strong tradition in engineering education, KPI also is strong in basic sciences such as chemistry, physics and mathematics, areas where Norwegian students definitely could be stronger, concludes dean Ringdal.

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