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Ігор Вишневський Weapon
29 April 2026, 09:00
2026-04-29
There is no “rocket market,” but can it be fixed? How Fire Point and KSE plan to cultivate engineering elites for DefTech and who can get into the new bachelor’s program
In March, it became known that KSE University, together with Fire Point, is launching a full-fledged bachelor’s program «Innovative Production Engineering», the purpose of which is to train highly qualified personnel for the Ukrainian defense industry. During one of the events, which was also attended by a dev.ua journalist, Fire Point CEO and CTO Iryna Terek noted that in Ukraine there is neither a «market for rocket engineers» nor ready-made specialists for the industry, so even personnel with experience in Defence Tech have to be retrained. It seems that with this step the company itself intends to somewhat correct the general situation.
In March, it became known that KSE University, together with Fire Point, is launching a full-fledged bachelor’s program «Innovative Production Engineering», the purpose of which is to train highly qualified personnel for the Ukrainian defense industry. During one of the events, which was also attended by a dev.ua journalist, Fire Point CEO and CTO Iryna Terek noted that in Ukraine there is neither a «market for rocket engineers» nor ready-made specialists for the industry, so even personnel with experience in Defence Tech have to be retrained. It seems that with this step the company itself intends to somewhat correct the general situation.
From the announcement of the program, it is known that Fire Point 100% finances the training, accommodation and meals of students, and also pays them a scholarship. Considering that the company will be able to get ready-made specialists only after four years, and they are not guaranteed to join this particular manufacturer, but can also choose another employer — is such a step economically profitable, or is it more like a social responsibility of business? Not to mention the fact that «working hands» and no less working «brains» in the constant arms race with the enemy and internal competitors are needed now, and not for the long term. dev.ua provided answers to our questions about these dilemmas by CEO and CTO Fire Point Iryna Terek, and Vice-Rector for Educational Process Management of KSE Mykola Tregub, in turn, told us more details about the program itself and the requirements for applicants.
Why does Fire Point invest in specialists «for the long term»?
Commenting on the question of why the company is ready to invest in student education in the long term, Iryna Terek notes that Fire Point works in two horizons — short and strategic.
«On the one hand, we are already actively hiring and retraining specialists for our tasks. On the other hand, the market does not produce a sufficient number of specialists of the required level, and this is a systemic problem,» she states.
The CEO and CTO of Fire Point calls the joint bachelor’s program with KSE an investment in changing the situation at the level of the entire industry. «We want engineers to appear on the market in 3-4 years who understand the specifics of Defense Tech from day one and can work with real tasks,» adds Iryna Terek.
Fire Point views the undergraduate program, in her words, «as a direct channel to the team.» As the top manager says, students who demonstrate high results will receive the opportunity for paid internships and priority when receiving an offer.
Iryna Terek, photo provided by the Fire Point press service
Iryna Terek did not specify how much this program in general and each individual specialist in particular would cost them, but assured that the company is ready to «consciously invest in quality.»
«Specialized engineers in defence-tech are a critical resource, and their value far exceeds the cost of training. In fact, we invest not only in the specialist, but also in the speed of development, the quality of the product, and our defense capability,» she answered somewhat evasively regarding the costs.
One way or another, Fire Point is prepared for the fact that even graduates of this rather narrow-profile program will have to be somewhat «brought up» to the specifics of real production. However, according to Iryna Terek, the program will help to shorten the path from training to real work as much as possible.
«Thanks to the elements of dual education, students will work with practical tasks while still studying, so after graduation they will be much more prepared for work. But it is important to understand: there is no „end point of learning“ at Defence Tech. Even experienced engineers are constantly adapting — due to the speed of change and the specifics of war,» emphasizes the head of the defense company.
A selection that not everyone can afford
According to Mykola Tregub, Vice-Rector for Educational Process Management at KSE, the requirements for applicants will be quite high.
«We are looking for future talented engineers with a very strong base in physics and mathematics — actually at the level of all-Ukrainian Olympiads,» he says in a comment to dev.ua.
Mykola Tregub clarifies that the selection for grant support from Fire Point consists of two stages: first, applicants undergo a motivational interview jointly with Fire Point and KSE University, where basic understanding of formulas and ability to solve problems are assessed, and then there is the second stage — a separate day of complex problems in mathematics and a separate day of complex problems in physics.
«These tasks are developed by the Fire Point company itself. We deliberately make such a selection because we believe that the NMT cannot fully assess the abilities of applicants for such a program,» notes the vice-rector of KSE.
At the same time, he says, the competition for a place is difficult to predict in advance, because admission takes place within the framework of a nationwide competition.
He calls the Bachelor’s program «Innovative Production Engineering» «engineering education built around real R&D tasks.»
«Students will work together with industry engineers and go through the full development cycle — from idea to functional prototype and technology launch,» explained Mykola Tregub.
According to him, work on the design of the program with Fire Point has been going on for over a year, and the company has been deeply involved in its creation from the very beginning. «For Fire Point, it is fundamentally important that the program is practice-oriented, and that students understand from the first days what cases the company works with, what it does now, and how it will be possible to interact with it in the future,» the representative of the Kyiv School of Economics specified.
What are Fire Point’s expectations from the program?
Iryna Terek confirms the words of the KSE vice-rector and claims that the company participated in shaping the curriculum to balance fundamental training and applied skills. «This is a completely different approach to education. It is the integration of practical experience into the educational process, rather than the division into theory and practice,» she says.
The company’s head assured that Fire Point specialists will definitely be involved in the training program in the format of expert meetings, will organize Q&A sessions, and will also involve the company’s partners in narrowly specialized areas of study. According to her, the main goal is to teach students how an engineer works in a practical way.
As Iryna Terek states, it is now important for them to recruit strong students, launch the program at a high level, and ensure real integration with the industry, and certain KPIs for assessing the success of this program for Fire Point will be the following figures — how many students will join in solving real engineering problems, and, in fact, how many students will join their team as a result.
Answering questions about similar cooperation between Fire Point and other higher educational institutions in the country, Iryna Terek assured that the company is open to cooperation in various formats, including offering the opportunity to undergo industrial practice with further development of an engineering career for graduates. In particular, she announced the launch of a bachelor’s program project with another of their partners — KAI, but emphasized that they are united with KSE by a «common vision of modern engineering education», calling this partnership special.
We also asked Iryna Terek what her vision was of a potential situation where Fire Point funds could be used to train personnel for other representatives of the Ukrainian defense industry, because, after all, program graduates are not obligated to find employment with their «sponsor.»
According to her, the primary goal of the program is to form a personnel reserve specifically for Fire Point, but the company is «morally ready» for such a scenario.
«Our goal is to reduce the shortage of specialized specialists and accelerate the development of innovative technologies in our country. But it is important for us that our entire ecosystem scales and develops, because we are all working towards a common goal — to protect ourselves and destroy the enemy. So we would like to be an example for other colleagues who will also invest in education,» Iryna Terek summed up.
She is convinced that even if the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war does end in the near future, the demand for highly qualified specialists for the defense industry will remain.
«This is a long-term trend. The defense industry in Ukraine has already been transformed and will not return to its pre-war state. Even after the end of the active phase of the war, state defense orders, export development, and dual-purpose technological developments will remain. Therefore, the demand for engineers with such a background will remain for years to come,» Iryna Terek concluded.
What will students learn in four years?
Mykola Tregub noted that formally we are talking about a standard bachelor’s program lasting 3 years and 10 months, but its content and approaches to learning, on the other hand, are non-standard.
Future applicants, as the vice-rector of KSE assures, need to be prepared for the fact that the program will be «very saturated» with physics and mathematics disciplines, especially in the first two years. «These are practically all sections of mathematics and all sections of physics. And, of course, they will have both a fundamental and an applied component,» says Tregub.
Mykola Tregub, photo provided by the KSE press service
At the same time, right from the first year of study, students are promised access to real production cases of the Fire Point company. «Here there will be a combination of what happens in production, with an understanding of what mathematical and physical laws, requirements and features all this is subject to. Therefore, from the first day of study, in parallel with reverse engineering, we will study mathematics and physics at a fairly high level,» explains the vice-rector for educational process management of KSE.
As Mykola Tregub promises, students will work with modern engineering tools — CAD systems, MATLAB/Simulink, ANSYS, and other modeling systems, and the program includes not only theoretical training, but also a full cycle of creating engineering solutions — from design to prototype testing.
«After the first two years, the individual educational trajectory is increasingly formed in interaction with the dual form of education and with production mentors. That is, the foundation and practice here are not separated into different stages, but constantly work in parallel,» he explained.
A KSE representative noted that it is important for them that the program is focused on the international level of training. «Therefore, we are looking at partnerships, opportunities for international academic mobility, and cooperation with European universities,» he says.
But still, the biggest difference from existing university programs — both in Ukraine and abroad, in his words, is that the program is «designed according to the employer’s requirements.»
«Unlike many other universities, we will not simply teach what we know how to do. We will teach what the employer really needs,» assures Mykola Tregub.
He also answered our question about whether the content of the program will change, taking into account the specific technological challenges of the front — after all, during the hypothetical 4 years of the war, a number of technologies have already managed not only to emerge, but also to «fade into oblivion.»
«Our program is alive. It will be adjusted in accordance with the changes that are on the battlefield and that the company itself is implementing. We know that Fire Point is the most flexible company and uses modern technologies to create its solutions,» he assured.
Mentors from the company and «individual educational trajectory»
Mykola Tregub shared that during dual training, mentors from the company will be assigned to individual groups of students.
«Students will actually study a very difficult educational program, with complex specifics and a very high workload. And here it is important to always take into account the individual educational trajectory that the student will follow. For example, someone will want to know more about navigation, someone will want to delve deeper into aerodynamics, someone will see certain opportunities in the company and want to delve into materials science or the resistance of materials. We will do all this together, we will discuss all this. Both the opinion of the company and the opinion of the students are important to us, and for this we need mentoring support,» the vice-rector of the Kyiv School of Economics expressed his vision.
The Kyiv School of Economics, according to Mykola Tregub, is working to scale up similar cooperation with other defense companies. «We have master’s programs — in unmanned aerial vehicles and in micro- and nanoelectronics — which are also implemented with other defense partners, including international ones,» he says.
As a representative of KSE said, the micro- and nanoelectronics program is implemented together with ETH Zurich, and the UAV program has a partnership with the Swedish Saab.
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