A presentation of a new IT University took place in Kyiv. Sergey Tokarev, the Founding Partner at Roosh, in the partnership with Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), described a new educational institution launched in Ukraine. Next Summer, Ukrainian school-leavers will be able to apply for study at SET University.
According to the founders, SET University will be the one that will alter the Ukrainian educational system, and fulfill the Ukrainian IT market with professionals ready to launch tech startup unicorns.
The name of the university is combined from three words that refer to university vision – Science, Entrepreneurship, and Technology. Sergey Tokarev says that his goal is to initiate changes in the industry: Ukraine has to implement a product approach not an outsourcing one to create a new economy.
University educational programs will include specialized IT disciplines and also practical courses aimed to teach students how to pitch ideas and launch startups. To achieve this goal, SET University has created a Startup Garage, an analog of the Stanford model.
The university will provide a wide range of opportunities for students: they will work on real cases of IT companies, pitch ideas for a venture studio, and compete for funding.
IT industry requires such an innovative university because there is a lack of professionals, around 100,000 job vacancies are open with no one to fill them. Another problem is the level of education – a lot of educational programs are not tailored to the IT market requirements. Usually, companies hire young specialists and spend a lot of time and money to train them to work on real projects according to their business needs. SET University expects that there will be no unemployed students among the graduates.
The founders of the university will involve top-level specialists to teach and become mentors for students. The program developed following concerns of IT companies will include courses on Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Cybersecurity, and other fields of expertise critical for the industry.
Education in the university will be available for everyone. Based on a tuition-based model, the students will be able to apply for a grant or a scholarship that will cover the cost of the education.
Sergey Tokarev says that an income share agreement model will be implemented in the university. It means that students can pay for the education after graduation, and this payment will be taken as a percent of their salaries.
The idea of the establishment of the university had arisen when Sergey Tokarev faced a lack of good professionals while developing his projects. Investing in more than 100 start-ups, he understood what specialists were in high demand on the market. For several years, he had been working on the idea of SET University.
To boost the project, Tokarev partnered with Kyiv School of Economics as a leading Ukrainian economic university to develop an innovative educational center together where IT specialists can be educated.
The application process will start in July, selected students will be able to sign agreements with the university.
Sergey Tokarev says: “We want universities to become an open platform for all participants of the IT market. We would like everything to be about technologies, and each participant of the market would be associated with the university. SET University will become an educational framework for achieving these goals.”