Historical and patriotic lectures on the invincibility of the Ukrainian nation

The introduction of historical and patriotic online lectures ‘Invincibility of the Ukrainian nation: history and present’ has become an integral part of national and patriotic education at the Ukrainian State University of Science and Technologies in the context of blended learning. This exclusive educational project has been initiated and implemented by Vice-Rector Halyna Yevseieva at SEI ‘PSACEA’ since the first days of the war. After the USUST merger, this experience has been disseminated to all the institutes with the assistance of the Academic Department, which made changes to the schedules of all the university’s institutes to hold simultaneous supervisory hours for first-year students.
 
During the last semester of the academic year 2024-2025, 38 events were held on the TEAMS platform and in person in shelters for four months of study in various university institutes. The lectures impressed with their relevance to various aspects of life during the war that are vital for Ukrainians of all generations, especially young people. Namely:
  • The lectures were dedicated to security aspects: they included topics ranging from safety in shelters, rules for handling explosive devices to financial security of citizens. The topics ‘Self-made shelters in civil defence and field fortification’, ‘Is it possible for everyone to have a permanent shelter?’, ‘Variety of shelters and bunkers’ delivered by Leonid Kupnevych, engineer of SEI ‘PSACEA’. The lecture on the topic ‘Risks associated with explosive objects’ was given by the representatives of the international organisation ‘The Halo Trust’. The lecture about ‘Payment security’ was given by Valeriia Stoilovska, employee of the FUIB bank;
  • Historical and patriotic lectures, which have a direct educational impact on young people, made up a significant percentage of all events and were prepared by teachers of various USUST academic institutions: ‘The Revolution of Dignity: the heroic deed of the Heavenly Hundred’ (H. P. Yevseieva, professor of SEI ‘ PSACEA’, Vice-Rector of USUST), ‘Sich Riflemen in Great Ukraine’ (prof. N. A. Kovaleva, SEI ‘USUCT’), ‘Historical and cultural heritage of Ukraine in the context of decolonization’ (Assoc. prof. Babenko V.A., SEI ‘ PSACEA’), ‘How the Soviets destroyed Ukraine’ (senior lecturer S. Volkova, SEI ‘ PSACEA’);
  • Lectures on the language issues: ‘Language and the unity of the nation’ (Prof. H. P. Yevseieva of SEI ‘PSACEA’, Vice-Rector of USUST), ‘The birth of the word – the birth of mentality’ (Assoc. prof. I. P. Mamchych, SEI ‘PSACEA’), ‘Language consciousness of the modern Ukrainian’ (Assoc. prof. S. P. Lagdan, SEI ‘DIIT’);
  • Lectures on environmental and psychological issues: round table ‘Environmental education and culture: problems and experience’, ‘Psychology and YOU’ (Assoc. prof.  Skladanovska M. G., SEI ‘PSACEA’), a lecture on ‘Chernobyl, Fukushima… What’s Next?’ (Assoc. prof. Shalomov V. A., SEI ‘PSACEA’);
  • Lectures and educational events dedicated to Shevchenko’s days, the figure of the Ukrainian woman: online concerts on the occasion of the celebration of Shevchenko’s Days, a lecture ‘Decolonization of Shevchenko’s Image’ (Assoc. prof. L. Boguslavska, SEI ‘PSACEA’), ‘Ukrainian woman: literary and theatre accents’ (Assoc. prof. Galatska V. L., SEI ‘DIIT’), ‘Ukrainian woman today – who is she?’ (Prof. H. P. Yevseieva of SEI ‘PSACEA’, Vice-Rector of USUST);
  • Lectures on ‘Theoretical preparation of basic combat training’ in the educational process by Svitlana Viktorivna Borycheva, head of the educational department of USUST, which were of great interest to students;
  • Lectures dedicated to the Day of Copyright and Intellectual Property within the framework of the educational project ‘Intellectual Property Law Week at USUST’: ‘Creativity as the basis for the development of creative industries’ (Prof. Korogod N., senior lecturer Shvets E., Sei ‘DMI’), ‘Innovative entrepreneurship and startups: from idea to implementation’ (Lytvynenko O. L., TISC USUST). ‘Academic integrity in higher education institutions in the age of artificial intelligence’ (Assoc. prof. Babenko V. A., SEI ‘PSACEA’)
The lectures were organized by: Halyna Yevseieva, Vice-Rector for educational work and humanitarian policy of USUST; the department of educational work – Valentyna Babenko, department head, and Oleksandra Omelych, leading engineer; the Council of educational work and humanitarian policy of USUST – Viktor Bilopolyi, head of the department of philosophy of SEI ‘PSACEA’. The project was attended by lecturers from various departments of the USUST, who prepared and delivered popular academic science lectures for all university students and ensured that the first-year students’ supervisory hours were of high quality. Special recognition goes to the lecturers from SEI ‘PSACEA’ who conducted more than half of these events (23). The most active lecturers were from the Department of Ukrainian Studies, Documentation and Information Activity headed by O. Barannyk), who delivered 14 lectures out of 38.
 
Taking into account  the importance of the project for the education of students who are the future technical elite of Ukraine, it was a logical step for the Vice-Rector Halyna Yevseieva to include an important point in the Academic Council’s decision of 28.05.2025 –  to strengthen the work on historical and patriotic lectures ‘The Invincibility of the Ukrainian Nation’ and supervisory hours in order to provide open access to knowledge about Ukrainian history, security aspects, language, environmental and psychological issues for students.