Image: from original
[For urgent updates please follow Ukrainian Freedom News on Telegram]
This year, Lviv Polytechnic National University will open a new educational program «Unmanned aerial vehicles» in the speciality «Aerospace engineering», the institution’s press service reported in a comment to Lviv Now.
According to Olesya Maksymovych, head of the Department of Oil and Gas Engineering and Welding, where the program will be launched, all points have been already agreed with the Ministry of Education and Science. Therefore, in the next academic year, the university will be able to teach students under the new bachelor’s program. A total of 120 seats were provided for this purpose.
«Today, this is a profession of the future, a new direction that will develop rapidly in the coming years. In Ukraine, such a field of study exists only at the Kharkiv Aviation Institute, so for us, in the West of Ukraine, this is a unique program,» – says Olesya Maksymovych.
Read also: Lviv region is developing the project for more effective repel of Russian air attacks
Also, as the head of the department noted, they expect a large number of students, since almost all production processes will soon become automated, and no industry will avoid using unmanned aerial vehicles.
«This is the delivery of various goods, monitoring and control from the air. Chemicals are sprayed from drones in the agricultural sector. I think this industry will develop somewhere on the same level as IT. Even now, the salary level in these two industries is almost the same. Accordingly, students tend to choose those areas of study where they can later receive a decent salary. The institution of higher education will teach, in particular, how to design, manufacture and operate unmanned aerial vehicles,» – she adds.
The studying will last four years, and the main specialized disciplines will be taught in the third year. By 2024, new laboratories should be created and equipped at the university.
Negotiations are now underway with sponsors interested in using unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as with other educational institutions and large aviation enterprises. According to Olesya Maksymovych, an agreement was reached with the polytechnic in Katowice (Poland) on double diplomas, in which there is a field of study – flight transport operation. And they agreed with the Boeing company that students will be able to do internships with them and the best of them will receive a scholarship. The company promised to help with new equipment for our laboratories. In addition, students will be able to improve their practical skills with the help of Korean specialists.
Let’s add that the direction of aircraft construction was already actively developed at Lviv Polytechnic. In particular, the university became the second in the world to open a department of aerodynamics at the beginning of the last century (the first was at the Sorbonne University), but as the Soviet leadership arrived, it decided to abandon aircraft construction in Lviv. About 5 years ago, the director of the Institute of Engineering Mechanics and Transport, professor Oleksii Lanets, proposed to return aircraft construction to the university, but the project stopped at a certain stage, so this year, they started implementing it again.
Olha Shveda, translated by Vitalii Holich
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.
