KSU Rector Visits Tallinn University of Technology within the SMART-PL Project
The Rector of Kherson State University, Professor Oleksandr Spivakovskiy, has begun his visit to Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Estonia.
The visit takes place within the framework of the Erasmus+ project “Students’ Personalised Learning Model, Based on the Virtual Learning Environment of Intellectual Tutoring “Learning with No Limits” – SMART-PL. The visit marks the conclusion of this three-year project, in which Kherson State University has been an active participant.
According to Professor Spivakovskiy, the visit included a fascinating tour of the leading engineering university in Estonia — an institution that, interestingly, is almost the same age as Kherson State University.
“It is interesting that the history of KSU is also connected to Estonia — in 1917, the Yuriev Teachers’ Institute was evacuated from here to Kherson.
We had the meeting with Archil Chochia, Director of the Law School, and Thomas Hoffmann, Professor at the Law School of Tallinn University of Technology,” emphasized the Rector. The next stop of the visit was the e-Estonia Briefing Centre, which showcases Estonia’s achievements in e-governance and digital public services.
A productive meeting was also held with Artem Boyarchuk, coordinator of the SMART-PL project, and researcher at Tallinn University of Technology. The parties discussed the implementation of the SMART-PL project results and how Kherson State University is developing its own digital infrastructure.
Professor Spivakovskiy spoke about the prerequisites that facilitated the rapid digital transformation of the university and the creation of the “University in a Smartphone” model through the university’s own platforms — KSUonline and KSU24. He also presented KSU’s works on documenting history, its publications, which provide insight into the university’s recent history related to the full-scale invasion.
“Of course, I shared how we managed to leave the occupied territory without humanitarian corridors, how, despite communication blockages, we transferred data to the servers of Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University, how we saved personnel and archival documentation, how we settled in Ivano-Frankivsk — and how we never stopped working, not for a single day.
I tried to convey the pain I feel for my native Kherson, which suffers from constant shelling but continues to live, believe in peace, and rebuild — just as we believe in our return home.”
Discussions also focused on continuing cooperation in the field of educational digitalization and on presenting the KSU case as an international example of resilience and innovation in higher education.
“I sincerely thank our hosts for the meaningful meetings and our project partners for their productive collaboration,” summarized Oleksandr Spivakovskiy.
Press Center of KSU