On 4 April 2025, SumDU hosted a panel discussion for teachers working in the STEM education – computer science, mathematics, and physics. The event “HighTech. Education. Sumy Region” brought together educators, university representatives, and IT business for an open dialogue on challenges, needs, and opportunities of modern technical education.

The meeting purpose was to discuss the pressing issues of STEM education, establish sustainable contacts between school teachers and professors of the ElIT Faculty, unlock potential for cooperation, study needs of schools and develop joint solutions for future changes.

Ivan KOZII (vice-rector for scientific and pedagogical work of SumDU) welcomed the participants: “The word STEM is not just a set of disciplines. It is certain skills and areas that can be very effective in life of every school graduate, and later our student. Among the variety of challenges, providing young people with quality knowledge and skills is extremely important”.

Yurii VOLK (dean of the ElIT Faculty) emphasized that SumDU is ready to help students with career guidance and choosing a specialty for admission to university for successful career: “Our country needs to receive highly qualified STEM specialists for the Ukrainian technological front. Building the right strategy for training a professional specialist is our task”.

The participants discussed a wide range of issues:

• Strategic vision of Ukrainian industrial future (Taras LIUTYI, first deputy dean of the ElIT Faculty);
• Staffing needs of the IT sector and development of the local technical community (Oleksandr ALFIMOV, director of the CPCS company);
• Trends in e-learning based on the SumDU experience (Yurii ZUBAN, director of the SumDU Center for E-Learning Technologies);
• Practical cases of cooperation between school and university (Iryna RODINKA, teacher of Secondary School 7; Yurii SHKURDODA, DSc in Physics and Mathematics, professor of the Department of Electronics, General and Applied Physics).

Educators could ask their questions to the faculty representatives, get professional answers and discuss ideas for further cooperation. The event ended with networking, which became a space for establishing direct contacts between lecturers, teachers and business.

This dialogue is an important step towards building a community that can change the educational environment of Sumy Region, making it modern, open to technology and, most importantly, effective in preparing young people for life and work in the digital world.