Наталя Хандусенко Увійти в ІТ 16 May 2025, 11:41

Vodafone, SoftServe, EPAM and Baykar: how KAI (formerly NAU) collaborates with business, creating new educational programs, laboratories and centers

Kyiv Aviation Institute (formerly the National Aviation University), which currently enrolls 15,000 students, is actively collaborating with Ukrainian and foreign businesses to develop new educational programs, open new laboratories and centers. The plan is to change the approach to educational programs in general to focus on quality rather than quantity.

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Vodafone, SoftServe, EPAM and Baykar: how KAI (formerly NAU) collaborates with business, creating new educational programs, laboratories and centers

Kyiv Aviation Institute (formerly the National Aviation University), which currently enrolls 15,000 students, is actively collaborating with Ukrainian and foreign businesses to develop new educational programs, open new laboratories and centers. The plan is to change the approach to educational programs in general to focus on quality rather than quantity.

This was stated by Ksenia Semenova, who has been serving as the acting president of the KAI for a year, in an interview with Forbes Ukraine.

Joint projects of KAI with business

According to Semenova, KAI is opening up a large educational space with Huawei.

In the field of large aviation, the university is developing an educational center and laboratory with the company ProgressTech-Ukraine (Boeing's contractor in Ukraine).

Several laboratories will also be opened, namely:

from the Internet of Things with electronics distributor VD MAIS;
from security tools with AxonSoft;
mobile technologies with Vodafone.

In addition, together with Vodafone, the university plans to launch a master's program in BigData.

"Previously, universities adhered to the paradigm that a master's degree was a continuation of a bachelor's degree. We want master's programs to be sold as a separate product," explains Semenova.

The university is also working on developing programs:

in applied mathematics, focused on the needs of AI specialists, from SoftServe;
in Computer Engineering from EPAM;
interdisciplinary robotics program with Ark Robotics.

They are working on educational courses with drone companies Airlogix, Skyfall, Athlon-Avia, and Vyriy. They will soon launch a course on startup management and for technical directors, and will also add four courses from Genesis, which will become part of the main program.

Separately, there are plans for defense projects: they are actively developing the community in DHub - a DefenceTech space created jointly with Octava Capital.

In cybersecurity, they work with government and business partners, in particular with Yegor Aushev's CyberUnits company.

KAI students also undergo internships at the Turkish company Baykar.

Recall that in October 2024, Ajax Systems opened an electronics laboratory at KAI.

How the university plans to change its approach to educational programs

The university currently has about 150 educational programs, but plans to reduce them.

"According to the logic of the Ministry of Education and Science, more accredited programs are better, but we have chosen a different approach: fewer, but higher quality," the acting president of the university noted in an interview.

Each of the 10 faculties will have 2-3 flagship programs: about 30 programs for bachelor's degrees, the same number for master's degrees, and even for PhDs.

“Our goal is not to disperse, but to build a strong engineering school,” Semenova added.

The university is also negotiating with businesses regarding grant support.

“If the program is strong but expensive, sponsors can cover scholarships. In 2024, we had a good experience with FUIB and NAUDI, which provided scholarships for student research projects,” says the acting president of KAI.

Semenova also noted that there is a gap between the needs of business and the popularity of programs among applicants. Software engineering is still the most popular, but business now needs more specialists in hardware, electronics, applied mechanics - complex, but highly paid areas. There is also low interest in science-intensive specialties - physics, chemistry, nanomaterials. People still go to applied mathematics due to its connection with AI.