Kyiv School of Economics has become the owner of the Kyiv Golf Club complex on Obolonskaya Embankment. A new campus will be created here for the training of engineers, mathematicians, psychologists and urban planners. The cost of the facility is $18 million. Who financed the deal and who will be educated in the building?
Kyiv School of Economics has become the owner of the Kyiv Golf Club complex on Obolonskaya Embankment. A new campus will be created here for the training of engineers, mathematicians, psychologists and urban planners. The cost of the facility is $18 million. Who financed the deal and who will be educated in the building?
According to the KSE press release, the first phase of the project includes the conversion of buildings into classrooms and laboratories for teaching and research. Spaces will also be created for international forums, summer schools and joint R&D programs with business. The total project budget is $40 million. Of these, $18 million will be for the purchase of the complex, and the rest will go to the creation of laboratories and support for scholarships for students. The agreement took five months to conclude.
KSE will create science and technology centers on campus, and also plans to add green spaces and make the place accessible for public events, STEM Olympiads and local initiatives. There are also plans to restore the summer cinema. The university will collaborate with urbanists, activists and authorities to create the concept of the space.
«We are not abandoning the past activities of the golf club, we will support this sport. We will not fence ourselves off, and we will open this part of the park to all residents. What was previously available only to the elite will be available to everyone,» wrote KSE President Timofey Mylovanov.
KSE will preserve the sports and recreational elements of the territory, integrating green areas and opening up space for public events, STEM Olympiads, an open-air cinema and local community initiatives. The university will collaborate with urbanists, activists and authorities on the concept of the space to ensure openness, transparency and benefits for the residents of Obolon, Kyiv, and the entire country.
KSE Rector Tymofiy Brik noted that in the future, the campus will allow for an increase in the number of STEM programs and attract more young Ukrainians to study in Ukraine. It is also planned to expand support programs for children of military personnel, IDPs, and veterans.
The development of the new space will be the largest private investment in education in the history of Ukraine. The total budget of the project is 40 million US dollars. Almost half of the amount of the deal was directed to the purchase of the golf club complex. The remaining funds, some of which have already been provided by international donors, will be directed to the transformation of the complex for educational needs, as well as the equipment of engineering and research laboratories, and the expansion of scholarship programs.
The deal went through a five-month legal and compliance process. KSE lawyers drafted and signed 45 documents, regularly reporting on the deal to the Campus Expansion Committee and the KSE Board of Directors. The deal was finally approved by the compliance, sanctions and fraud departments of a leading US bank.
