The final competition of the University Cup starts on March 22, and while registration of participants and selection of the best of the best are ongoing, we tell you what was discussed at the opening of the event.
The final competition of the University Cup starts on March 22, and while registration of participants and selection of the best of the best are ongoing, we tell you what was discussed at the opening of the event.
The Universities Cup is a programming competition among high school and college students from all over Ukraine. This year, the event is supported by the NIX IT team, a long-time member of the Kharkiv IT Cluster and the general partner of the event.
The goal is to unite talented young people, motivate them to develop in IT, and show opportunities for professional growth in this field in Ukraine.
A traditional part of the University Cup is the Programming Olympiad. The proposed tasks help to improve algorithmic analysis skills, the ability to work with large amounts of data, and approach problem solving in an IT-like manner — comprehensively, clearly, and creatively. The variety of programming languages that participants can use allows them to attract as many capable beginner programmers as possible to the competition. Python, C#, Rust, and Java will be useful for completing the tasks.
It is also an opportunity to test your theoretical knowledge in practice and get feedback from IT industry experts. Among them, NIX, namely the head of the technical education department at the NIX Corporate Training Center, Oleksiy Rubel, joined the panel discussion at the opening of the event.
Together with representatives of leading IT companies, we discussed how to preserve human capital in times of war and motivate young people to stay and study and work in Ukraine. A separate issue was the practical training of future IT professionals — what can IT companies do here?
The speakers emphasized the importance of cooperation between business representatives, universities, and local authorities. Joint discussions and creating opportunities for young people with a focus on IT work are an integral part of any changes in technical education, believes Oleksiy Rubel.
Oleksiy Rubel, Head of Technical Education at the NIX Corporate Training Center: «It’s not even the education system itself that is outdated, but the approach to it. In the modern dynamic IT sphere, it is impossible to build a single training plan for four years, and that’s it. Flexibility is needed here, and it manifests itself not only in the skills acquired, but also in the process of training future specialists. In my opinion, the best way to do this is to introduce dual education in universities, and through real, project-based cooperation with the IT business. If necessary, attract the resources of local self-government bodies. From our experience, such positive examples of cooperation already exist, we are working on them together with the universities of Kharkiv and Poltava.
As practitioners, we understand that beginners in IT need to know here and now, what the demand is in the industry globally, what will be in demand in a few years. And all this can be realistically reflected in student training programs. You can experiment with formats: launch student projects, technical laboratories or courses based on certain departments, and experienced IT specialists can act as mentors. This will create growth points and become a win-win solution for everyone: for universities, young people and for employers.
According to the speaker, dual education is not only about strengthening the practical training of beginners. It is primarily a change in the educational paradigm: what level of IT specialists are we training and for what tasks.
Oleksiy Rubel: «Today, we need not just programmers, but universal Software engineers capable of solving high-level problems. This is not just about introducing project-based learning, but about the entire curriculum. We need to train specialists who, after graduation, have in-demand skills and at the same time can flexibly adapt to the demands of the industry. From the experience of our cooperation with universities, I see that educators are also close to this concept. Currently, by supporting events such as the University Cup, we support the development of these future high-class Software engineers. Therefore, we call on IT businesses and educators to coordinate in this direction in order to revive and strengthen Kharkiv IT education.»
For Kharkiv IT Cluster, education has been one of the key areas of their activity for 10 years. The cluster now operates at various levels and unites a wide network of educational partners.
Olga Shapoval, Executive Director of Kharkiv IT Cluster: «Our key stakeholders are national agencies, leading educational institutions of Ukraine and relevant ministries. The Kharkiv IT Cluster ecosystem includes over 50 universities in 16 regions of Ukraine, over 480 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs under supervision. For members of the Kharkiv IT Cluster — IT businesses, from niche to large — this is an opportunity to join over 42 thousand students with one touch and systematically and positively influence the quality of technological education in Ukraine.»
