Rector of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, NAS Academician Michael Zgurovsky, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins signed an updated cooperation agreement between the University and the French diplomatic mission.

The agreement was signed when Etienne de Poncins and Attaché for University and Scientific Cooperation Alix De Gassar visited Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute on 2 June 2021. Vice-Rector and Academician of the NAS of Ukraine Yurii Yakymenko, Vice-Rector for International Relations and Corresponding Member of NAS of Ukraine Serhii Sydorenko, Coordinator for Campus France Ukraine Olha Khvorostianko and other University representatives also met the French guests. The Head of the French diplomatic mission in Ukraine saw the mural on campus wall 18, created by a famous French abstract graffiti artist Nelio. As the “KP” newspaper has already written, Nelio created the mural in April 2021. The mural was designed as part of the French Spring Festival in Ukraine on the initiative of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, together with the Embassy of France and the French Institute of Ukraine. According to Etienne de Poncins, the mural is his country’s contribution to the campus renovation of the famous Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, with more than 120 years of history.

The next place the guests visited was G. I. Denysenko Scientific and Technical Library of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”. At the library, they saw one of Foucault’s largest pendulums in Ukraine, which demonstrates the diurnal rotation of the Earth. It was a French physicist Jean-Bernard Leon Foucault who first discovered and showed the phenomenon.

During this visit, the office of the Campus France branch, a unit for promoting higher education in the French Republic, was officially opened at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. The office is on campus 6. Now it has an information board on the building facade.

The meeting ended in the meeting room of the Administrative Council with a discussion of the prospects for developing the Ukrainian-French Center. The meeting participants also discussed assistance in exchanging Ukrainian and French students. By the way, French student interns at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute were also present at the meeting. They briefly shared their impressions of living and studying at our University. Michael Zgurovsky mentioned the French students in his speech, “Today, in the difficult pandemic time, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute trains four French students, while more than ten of our students study in France.” He also stressed that the Ukrainian-French Center is an essential bridge between our countries.

Etienne de Poncins and Michael Zgurovsky signed an updated cooperation agreement between the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” and the Embassy of the French Republic in Ukraine. The document aims to continue developing and deepening cooperation between higher education institutions of Ukraine and France. The agreement also will facilitate access to information on higher education and research in France for Ukrainian higher education students and scientists. The cooperation will promote the employment of young Ukrainian students – graduates of French study programs. According to the agreement, the Ukrainian side also accommodates French representatives in two auditoriums on campus 6, behind the Ukrainian-French Center. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute will also appoint the. In turn, the French partners will help provide the Ukrainian-French Center with the necessary material and technical capacities, equipment, and other costs. They will also assist in appointing the coordinator to disseminate information about higher education in France as part of Campus France.