The IT industry has increased in many countries and is also gaining momentum in Ukraine. Almost everyone wants to become an IT specialist, and it seems that every second Ukrainian already works in this industry. However, the reality is different: there is still a lack of qualified specialists. Sergey Tokarev, the founding partner at Roosh, shares the upcoming opportunity to get high-quality IT education in Ukraine.
Considering the lack of 50,000—100,000 IT personnel in Ukraine, the businessman has created a new education system by establishing a new technological university—SET University. Sergey Tokarev explains that the problem lies in the quality of specialists. According to Gradus’ survey, about 80% of IT industry representatives believe that young Ukrainians lack an understanding of creating and developing a business to launch a startup. On the other hand, they are not aware of attracting investment correctly. Moreover, 86.7% of companies also have to train young specialists who graduated from technical universities. Therefore, the issue is their inability to embark on real projects.
For this reason, SET University is established to solve the issue with employment and the provision of a quality IT education in Ukraine.
What is SET University?
SET stands for Science, Entrepreneurship, and Technology. It determines the university’s mission—to prepare innovators who will change the world through a prism of science, entrepreneurship, and technology. Sergey Tokarev underlines that the university is focused on training IT specialists as well as IT entrepreneurs.
The study program will differ from the traditional one applied in other similar universities in the country. Additionally to theory, students will gain special practice in pitching ideas, developing business plans, and launching their own startups. Their master’s thesis will involve creating an idea or launching a startup. To provide future students with this practical basis, the university has developed a Startup Garage—similar ones operate at Stanford and other foreign universities.
Moreover, the university-based venture capital studio will support the most successful student startups. It means the venture studio will invest in their projects. Students will get an opportunity to work on real cases of IT companies and undergo internships in top Ukrainian and international companies.
Closer to SET University opening
Sergey Tokarev believes that the new university will break the boundaries in the IT education system in Ukraine. Apart from a usual tuition model of education, applicants will be able to apply for SET University under an income share agreement. It will allow them to get study for free and pay for their education only after graduating with a certain percentage of their salaries in an IT company. Thus, both students and university lecturers will be interested in the best learning results.
SET University will be opened in September 2022 by Sergey Tokarev, the Founding Partner at Roosh, and the Kyiv School of Economics. Some other events will take place before the opening.
In March, the university will start a free online course on preparation for External independent evaluation on mathematics.
Starting from July 14, applicants will get access to apply for education at SET university and upload a packet of documents in their digital account. In August, the university will sign agreements with the accepted students.
The investor believes that establishing SET University will bring significant changes to the Ukrainian IT industry and become a good example for other universities.