SET University President spoke at the Future of Emerging Europe Summit

On November 8, Iryna Volnytska, SET University President, spoke at the European Parliament at the Future of Emerging Europe Summit. This year’s summit was dedicated to the role of the region in the Russian-Ukrainian war. In particular, the topics of innovation, education, sustainable development, and information security were raised.

Among the speakers at the summit were representatives of both business and government: MEP Alin Mituca, Microsoft’s General Manager for Eastern Europe Michelle Simmons, Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov, and others.

Iryna Volnytska took part in the panel discussion BACK TO SCHOOL: Rethinking education for tomorrow’s world is scheduled. We share the key points of her speech.

• The only way to stop the brain drain from our region is to create opportunities for a better life here. It is not only about career prospects, but also about education. By offering high-quality programs, we can retain talented young people in their home countries. In addition, we have to take into account healthcare, infrastructure and the environment. In our Ukrainian case, the top priority is the safety of our citizens.
• The only way to ensure that educational programs meet the needs of the market is to create strong cooperation between business, government, and educational institutions. This is exactly what we do at SET: instead of traditional diploma theses, our students develop technological solutions for real businesses.
• Speaking about the prospects for our region’s leadership in education, I would like to mention two approaches to creating innovations: by choice (as in Silicon Valley) and in response to challenges (as in Israel). The challenges we face today allow us to generate unique solutions. An example is the concept of our bachelor’s program: students study in different countries every year, working in different IT companies rather than on traditional campuses.

Future of Emerging Europe is an annual summit that raises important socio-economic issues in the regions of Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. The summit is held as part of the activities of the British organization Emerging Europe. The mission of the organization is to promote social, economic and democratic development of 23 countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, as well as the South Caucasus.