Today, Ukraine finds itself in a situation where the key resource is not only finances or infrastructure, but also people—primarily engineers capable of creating complex technological products and ensuring the functioning of critically important sectors. It is precisely this strategic need that the nationwide project “Engineering Future of Ukraine” (Future of Ukraine: Engineering Renaissance, FUER) is designed to address—an integrated national initiative that offers a systemic model for identifying, training, and professionally developing talented youth, with their subsequent integration into high-tech business. The organizer is the St. Volodymyr Charitable Foundation, the general partner is the company “Progresstech-Ukraine,” and the scientific and methodological partner is the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Recently, during a meeting with the Minister of Education and Science, Oksen Lisovyi, the parties signed an agreement on strategic cooperation within the framework of the project’s implementation.
The logic of the project is based on the principle that the country should not only import technologies but also rebuild its own engineering corps capable of working according to international standards. As discussed during the meeting, FUER proposes the creation of a sustainable educational and кадровий (personnel) framework based on the model “school — university — engineering center (laboratory) — industry,” in which education functions as a mechanism for preparing specialists for real production.
As noted by the President of the National Center “Junior Academy of Sciences,” Academician of the NAS of Ukraine Stanislav Dovhyi, the idea of integrating engineering training into secondary and higher education has been discussed for a long time, and the current initiatives to create engineering clusters in higher education institutions are a practical implementation of this concept.
The architecture of the “Engineering Future of Ukraine” project is built as a three-level system. The first level consists of competitions, olympiads, and STEM events that serve the function of identifying talented youth. They cover both school formats for grades 5–11 and university olympiads and case championships with real production tasks.
The second level is targeted training within a network of engineering centers and laboratories created by industry partners at leading technical universities. A dual model is implemented here: 50–60% fundamental training and 40–50% practical experience through internships, real projects, and mentorship. Certification according to engineering standards is mandatory.
The third level is integration into high-tech business through internships, competitive selection, access to international projects, and subsequent employment in companies.
A practical tool for implementing the project is the nationwide Future of Ukraine competition, which operates in two tracks. The first track, “Young Engineer,” is aimed at students in grades 9–11 and members of the Junior Academy of Sciences. It focuses on early identification of engineering potential and motivation toward the profession. Unlike classical subject olympiads, the competition evaluates systemic thinking, the ability to form technical concepts, and to apply STEM knowledge to solve real-world problems. Areas include mechanical engineering, aviation and transport engineering, energy, cybernetics and artificial intelligence, robotics, and engineering for security and reconstruction. Winners gain the opportunity to join engineering centers of companies and joint dual programs with universities, as well as integrate into international STEM initiatives of the Junior Academy of Sciences.
The second track, “High-Tech Engineer,” is designed for students of leading universities and tests their readiness to work in the real sector: with CAD/PLM systems, documentation, standards, and production regulations. Evaluation is carried out by experts from business and universities. For the best participants, this becomes an entry point into a career: they receive opportunities for internships, access to international projects, certification programs, and personal mentorship.
The head of the St. Volodymyr Charitable Foundation Academician of the NAS of Ukraine Mykhailo Zgurovsky, emphasized that the problem of training engineers in Ukraine is becoming one of the key national challenges and warned that maintaining current trends may lead to technological lag and a decrease in the country’s defense capability.
Outlining the concept of a holistic training chain: “school — university — engineering centers of high-tech companies — employment in business,” Academician Zgurovsky stressed that the “locomotive” of this system should be high-tech business itself, which will set standards and requirements for students’ knowledge and competencies, as well as provide additional training for graduates to reach a practical level that no university currently offers.
Aviation engineering was not chosen by chance as the pilot direction of the FUER project, since Ukraine already has a world-class high-tech ecosystem with the participation of Progresstech-Ukraine and Boeing Ukraine. This makes it possible to build a training model not theoretically, but based on a real production chain.
Director of “Progresstech-Ukraine” Oleh Urusky spoke about systematic cooperation with Ukrainian universities. In particular, the company is creating an inter-university laboratory based at the National Aviation University, which will be accessible to students from other higher education institutions. Within the framework of long-standing and fruitful cooperation with Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, the National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute,” and a number of other technical universities of Ukraine, it is developing dual education and joint master’s programs.
At the same time, the company’s head drew attention to the acute personnel shortage. Each year, the company, which currently employs more than 1,100 engineers, needs an influx of 150–200 new young specialists. However, only about 40 candidates pass the selection due to high professional requirements and a multi-level verification system, including testing at Boeing. A problem is the low interest of school students in physics and weak basic engineering training of students in Ukrainian higher education institutions, which creates a threat to the industry. That is why the company is already working with general secondary education institutions and the Junior Academy of Sciences to shape future engineers from school age.
The Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Oksen Lisovyi, outlined a vision of a cluster model for the development of engineering education, where the university serves as the key core. Around it, a network of specialized secondary education institutions (academic lyceums) and partner businesses—clients—should be formed. According to him, university departments should work simultaneously with enterprises that need personnel and with lyceums, forming a continuous chain of training future specialists.
In the context of the development of engineering education, Oksen Lisovyi supported the idea of creating university–lyceum–business clusters, citing examples of such cooperation hubs in Dnipro, Kyiv, and Lviv. He called the “Engineering Future of Ukraine” project a timely pilot and expressed the opinion that it would be appropriate to grant it the status of a state experiment, which could be implemented through a protocol instruction of the Cabinet of Ministers. In his view, this would allow overcoming regulatory barriers and launching the model on the basis of a number of universities as an example for scaling across the entire country.
Dmytro SHULIKIN
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