A delegation comprising Irene Frei and Anna Valko Celestin from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of the Swiss Ministry of Economy; Viktor Shutkevych, Deputy Director for Cooperation at the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine; and Dr. Mariana Melnykovych, representative of the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH, Switzerland) visited Lviv Polytechnic National University on 27 October, 2025. Dr. Mariana Melnykovych is also BFH coordinator for the joint implementation of a new elective module entitled Sustainable and Smart Recovery and Sustainable Construction within the master’s program Industrial and Civil Engineering, which is implemented at the Department of Building Constructions and Bridges, the Institute of Civil Engineering, Infrastructure and Life Safety.
The visit aimed to strengthen and expand educational collaboration between the universities of Lviv and Bern. The delegation met with the University leadership Acting Rector Roman Korzh and Vice‑Rector for Academic and Methodological Affairs Volodymyr Zhezhukha. They thanked the Swiss side for productive cooperation, told about the potential of Lviv Polytechnic, and shared the university’s plans to introduce new interdisciplinary educational programs in Construction and Architecture.
During their visit, representatives of the Swiss Confederation met in a hybrid mode (offline and online) with students of the Institute of Civil Engineering, Infrastructure and Life Safety, in particular with first-year master’s students who will be the first to choose the new elective module Sustainable and Smart Recovery and Sustainable Construction, and with the teaching staff who will ensure the implementation of the elective module. A distinctive feature of the module is that it will be taught by the faculty from BFH and Lviv Polytechnic, along with invited guest lecturers and practitioners from both Swiss and Ukrainian companies.
The module includes such disciplines as Digital Tools in Building Planning and Damage Assessment, Circular Construction and New Generation Materials, and Participatory Co-Design and Business Strategies in Building the Future, as well as the implementation of a course project in groups based on real projects implemented in Ukraine. Dr. Mariana Melnykovych, Bern University of Applied Sciences, and Roman Khmil, Head of the Department of Building Constructions and Bridges, told students about the structure of the elective module in more detail.
Irene Frei and Viktor Shutkevych spoke about a long-standing cooperation between our countries in supporting various infrastructure projects implemented in Ukraine with the assistance of the Swiss government. The meeting with students proved to be both engaging and valuable for the participants and the guests alike.
«We are confident that this educational project is the first, but very important step for the development of future cooperation between Swiss universities and Lviv Polytechnic in both educational and scientific spheres», concluded Zinovii Blikharsky, Director of the Institute of Civil Engineering, Infrastructure and Life Safety.
WE express our gratitude to the Tutoring and Mentoring Center at Lviv Polytechnic for organizing this meeting, and to its staff for providing excellent technical support for the event!
