Period of implementation of the project: 

2020-2021

Challenge: 

• To get engineering back to the agenda of Ukrainian society; to make technical specialties popular again; to create points of interaction between business and educational institutions; and to ensure the flow of students to technical specialties and then to modern production facilities. At present, the operational process at large industrial enterprises is automated to the greatest possible extent. Appropriate technical professionals are required to operate and maintain state-of-the-art equipment and lines. However, engineering specialties still remain outsiders among the professions chosen by prospective students. In 2020, a total of 191 thousand graduates applied for admission to higher education institutions, of which only about 18% were focused on engineering. Prospective students actively chose legal, managerial, humanitarian, and IT specialties, leaving the technical ones out of consideration. In addition, the number of students going for studies abroad is growing year to year. According to the Stud-Point Career Development Center, in 2015-2016, approximately 70,000 Ukrainians took a training course abroad, mostly in Europe. But no more than 20% of them come back home. 

  Young people are also a dominant share of those who want to leave the country. According to a poll by the Rating sociological group, 27% of respondents want to leave Ukraine, and the majority of them (52%) are Ukrainians aged 18 to 25 years.  

Solution: 

To create an ecosystem for teaching a modern engineering discipline – mechatronics – in Dnipro. 

Five years ago, Interpipe set up a goal of encouraging teenagers and young people to enter engineering professions. In 2016, the first Interpipe TechFest event was held – the only major engineering show and technical festival in Ukraine. Within the festival a competition in mechatronics was held. This was the way the company began to develop mechatronics in Dnipro, a discipline that combines electrical engineering, mechanics, and up-to-date technologies, among students and schoolchildren. Dnipro Polytechnic, the best technical higher education institution in the region, became a strategic partner of this process. 

In 2018, at the initiative of the Company and with the support of the University, an educational program for schoolchildren and students of vocational education institutions Interpipe Mechatronic Lab was launched. 

In May 2019, Interpipe, together with the National Technical University Dnipro Polytechnic, opened a mechatronics laboratory with German Fischertechnik equipment for training of schoolchildren. 

In February 2020, the second mechatronics laboratory was opened at the premises of the Dnipro Polytechnic. The new training space was equipped with simulators of the German FESTO company, specializing in the development of educational equipment for schools and higher education institutions around the world. The laboratory was arranged for practical classes of students of the Dnipro Polytechnic, colleges, technical secondary schools, and vocational training schools. 

In the space of a few years of the Interpipe Mechatronic Lab’s existence, 500 schoolchildren and students have undergone training there. If in 2018 only 36 teenagers became interested in mechatronics, in 2021 a total of 150 people have already mastered the special course. Each training course lasts two months, and at the end of the season the teams compete for the title of the best one and valuable prizes in the finals. In 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the entire season was arranged fully online with lectures, practical assignments, and remote connection to the designing sets. 

In October 2020, with the support of Interpipe, the All-Ukrainian finals in mechatronics within the WorldSkills competition were held at the premises of the Dnipro Polytechnic for the first time. This is a kind of Academic Olympics, but among students and young professionals in working specialties. Every year the list of professions, covered by the tournament, expands, and mechatronics is one of the most modern disciplines included. 

In order to make mechatronics training more accessible to children, Interpipe initiated the opening of the first mechatronics laboratories at Dnipro schools. For instance, in 2021, two mechatronics laboratories have already been arranged and launched at the schools of Dnipro (gymnasium No 3 and secondary school No 129), and the opening of two more laboratories (schools No 138 and No 139) is also in the progress. The city authorities carried out the repair works in the classrooms, while Interpipe was engaged in the purchase of machinery and equipment, and the Dnipro Polytechnic provided additional training of the relevant teachers. 

Results: 

With the support of Interpipe, an ecosystem for the up-to-date technical education has been created in Dnipro: 

• 2 state-of-the-art laboratories at the Dnipro Polytechnic 
• 4 laboratories at schools of the Left Bank residential area of Dnipro (students of neighboring schools also come to study there) 
• About 1,000 schoolchildren study mechatronics at the school laboratories 
• 500 students and school goers undertook the Interpipe Mechatronic Lab program 

The All-Ukrainian finals of WorldSkills Ukraine in mechatronics among the finalist teams of various regions are held every year

Category: People

Company: Interpipe

About the company: 

Interpipe is a vertically integrated manufacturer of steel pipes and railway products in Ukraine. The company is a part of the TOP-10 seamless pipe producer in the world, TOP-5 manufacturer of railway products in the world. Interpipe supplies products to more than 80 countries around the world through the network of sales offices located at the key markets of Ukraine, CIS, Middle East, North America, and Europe. The portfolio of Interpipe customers includes oil and gas companies, construction groups, leading machinery enterprises, railway operators, and railcar builders of the CIS, Europe, America and Asia.

Sustainable Development Goals