The final part of this year’s Ukrainian Financial Forum – the Academy Day 2019 conference – took place on November 28 at Fedoriv Hub in Kyiv. The event was organized by the financial group ICU in partnership with Kyiv School of Economics.
During the event, leading top managers, government officials and graduates from top university programs in Ukraine and around the world discussed whether professionals need additional education and the best strategies for life-long learning.
“Along with the very rapid development of technology in the world, the choice of professional programs and teaching methods are ever-evolving. Do we need to study all the time? What to choose – university, MBA or online education? Does it make sense to invest in one’s team education? How can we better organize children’s education? These issues are important for each of us, regardless of age and profession, so this year we decided to experiment and for the first time dedicate part of our annual financial forum to education,” said Konstantin Stetsenko, founder of ICU.
The keynote speaker was Tymofiy Milovanov, Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine and Honorary President of the Kyiv School of Economics, who dedicated his speech to Ukraine’s intellectual sovereignty.
“Scientists are the last bastion of a society facing populism. But in Ukraine, scientists have not yet become opinion leaders. They observe and comment on our reality, but do not move society forward,” he commented.
According to the Minister, copying the national “intellectual foundation” of other countries is dangerous, so it is necessary to invest in the development of Ukrainian science and education. This coincides with the point of view of ICU’s co-founders Makar Paseniuk and Konstantin Stetsenko, who have been patrons of Kyiv School of Economics and CFA Institute Research Challenge for several years, supporting the development of modern economic education in Ukraine.
“The participants of our forum agreed that almost all Ukrainian economic universities produce unprepared graduates. Ukrainian economic education does not prepare people for real work, providing them only with theory, often outdated. Our goal is to help break this practice. This worries us as citizens, entrepreneurs and parents, because the topic of education concerns all of us”, commented Makar Pasenyuk, the founder of the ICU and a member of the Board of Directors of the Kyiv School of Economics.
