Project activities
International conference Driving Economic Recovery: Scaling Digital Education Experiences in Higher Education Institutions
The international conference was organized by the Kyiv Polytechnic University on September 19-20 as part of the Incubating Freedom for Ukraine project – Building IT Competence Among Ukrainian War Refugees Residing In EU Countries. On the one hand, it concerned informing the academic community of Ukraine about the IFU project and other activities of the Perspektywy Foundation, and on the other hand, it provided a platform for discussion on the tasks of higher education institutions during the war and in the post-war period.
Due to security requirements, the conference in the bunker under the main library of the KPI gathered almost 30 speakers, and number of participants including over 100 from Ukraine, USA, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and representatives international organizations incl.: GlobalLogic, Fulbright Foundation, Ukrainian Women’s Fund, UN Women. Additionally almost 100 participants were registered online.
The Polish side was represented by: W. Siwiński, B. Siwińska and W.M. Marchwica; Gdańsk University representatives at ELTE University participated online. Particularly important was the contribution of Nataliya ALYUSHINA, Head of the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service and Nella YAKOVLEVA - Deputy Chair of the Committee, Chair of the Subcommittee on Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
W. Siwiński presented the activities of the Perspektywy Foundation before and after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, emphasizing the need for joint actions to help refugees acquire skills that make life easier during the war and after its end. He spoke, among others, about:
Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Perspektywy Foundation has been involved in helping to the extent possible – supporting war refugees in educational matters. For this purpose, we organized the Incubating Freedom conference in Lublin in December 2022, during which a plan was presented to train thousands of Ukrainian refugees in the broadly understood field of IT. Perspektywy has also acquired two international Erasmus+ projects concerning vocational (non-academic) training. One of them is the Incubating Freedom for Ukraine project, within the framework of which this conference is organized. We want to help women - war emigrants from Ukraine - to change or obtain IT qualifications, believing that this is the best direction of training. Regardless of whether your women decide to return to Ukraine after the war, stay in Poland or emigrate further (to Germany, Canada, etc.), IT qualifications - even if they are low - will make it easier to find a well-paid job.
B. Siwińska devoted her online presentation Empowering She-Tech: Advancing Female Digital Literacy in the Labor Market to the issue of equipping Ukrainian women with various IT skills that are very useful both when looking for a job now and in the conditions of reconstruction of the Ukrainian state. The presentation by W. Marchwica (Challenges and Opportunities for Migrations into Europe - the case of IFU project as the pattern) during the 4th Hybrid Session Exploring the Social Impact of Migration in the Context of Sustainable Development in the EU and Ukraine concerned the advisability of developing IT skills at all levels in the changing European labour market. The ongoing IFU project tests the validity of this reasoning.
