At the meeting of the University Academic Board on December 28, a presentation was held «On support for veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war and their family members». It reflected the current challenges facing Lviv Polytechnic in the matter of building an inclusive educational environment for veterans. The speaker was Roman Korzh, Vice-Rector, member of the commission on ethics, academic integrity, national-patriotic education and humanitarian issues. Based on the results of the meeting, a set of measures to improve the inclusiveness of education at the university was adopted.
From the report of Vice-Rector Roman Korzh, we learned that in the first year of the full-scale invasion of the enemy, the number of people who got included into the preferential categories due to the Russian aggression since 2014 and who study at Lviv Polytechnic, has more than doubled and till 2023 there were 815 such people. At the beginning of 2022, 64,000 veterans of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were registered in the Lviv region. Now, the predicted indicator is more than 200,000. After the victory, the number of veterans will increase approximately by 3.3 times. These statistics encourage us to work more seriously on inclusive education in Ukraine.
According to the results of the meeting of the Academic Board, the University plans to:
- develop a case study of proposals for short-term professional training with a duration of 500 hours for each proposal;
- create a Yedune Vikno Service on the basis of the Veterans Development Center to provide entrants and students of higher education with consulting services on university admission and inclusive services during their studies;
- work with communities of Lviv region on issues of short-term training of specialists to accompany war veterans and their family members within the framework of implementation of the state veteran policy;
- develop a professional program «Support of war veterans and their family members in communities»;
- organize the creation of a specialized web service for the support of veterans and their family members;
- create a Psychological Service at Lviv Polytechnic National University;
- further develop an inclusive educational environment for veterans and their family members, families of fallen soldiers, creating mental health units at the university.
Psychological assistance to war veterans and their family members, as well as their physical rehabilitation, is proposed to be organized at four levels:
- Level 1: Psychological programs for all veterans;
- Level 2: Individual specialized counseling by a family doctor;
- Level 3: Specialized psychological and medico-psychological services in a clinic;
- Level 4: Physical rehabilitation services.
It should be noted that from 2014 to 2022, more than 800 war veterans and members of their families, including soldiers with severe injuries, have completed training in various vocational courses at Lviv Polytechnic National University.
Among the educational programs there are:
- Internet marketing: Business development on the Internet;
- The English language and visual communication;
- Conducting business;
- Information technologies and the English language;
- Software quality control;
- Project management;
- Strategic development of territorial communities;
- Technologies for starting and running a business;
- Practical testing and the English language;
- Creative management practices in business and the English language.
Also, Lviv Polytechnic organized socio-psychological events for the military and their family members, provided volunteer assistance to military personnel and refugees, and opened the Veteran Services at the University in 2023.
The issue of inclusiveness in the educational environment is particularly acute today and requires prompt and comprehensive measures to improve the quality and accessibility of education for those who suffered from the war the most.