Mariupol State University’s Future Campus: A Dream Turned Reality
“Today, we will dream about the future,” began Mykola Trofymenko, Rector of Mariupol State University, at an event marking the beginning of construction of a modern, first-class campus in Kyiv for the Donetsk community. On October 17, a presentation of the vision of the future educational complex took place in the main building of the future MSU campus. The event served as a ceremonial conclusion and summary of the architectural ideas competition for the best conceptual project proposal.
The transfer of a large site for the campus to the ownership of the displaced educational institution is a unique case. MSU, which lost everything due to the full-scale war and was relocated to Kyiv, has found support thanks to its resilience. On the initiative of the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Oleksandr Lisovyi, the university received ownership of the real estate complex of the Kyiv Higher Professional School of Mechanical Engineering and Computer-Integrated Technologies: a 4-hectare plot of land and a total area of 13,000 square meters.
People fill the space. The complex can be beautifully renovated, it can be new, modern, and technological, but if there is no Spirit created by the community, it will be dead even with the best architectural solutions.
Mariupol University is very important to me. With the beginning of the war in 2014, none of the displaced universities became a bearer of local identity. Today, part of the great Ukrainian dream is the return of territories, so we must form such centers that would not just dream but act. I hope to see a unique case of creating a worldview university of the Azov Sea region and Donbas, which will unite communities, preserve intellectual potential and generate strategies, ideologies, and solutions for the restoration of this region and, most importantly, train people for this
– said Oleksandr Lisovyi, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.
The reconstruction project has already acquired the name "The Invincible Campus of the Invincible University". It was proposed by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during his visit to Mariupol University. The project envisages the creation of a unique space with a dormitory, places for creative and professional growth, including courses for the rehabilitation and retraining of the military and the civil people of Donetsk.
To implement this promising idea, MSU initiated a competition for the reconstruction proposals of the building into a campus for the University of the Future. 37 students of architectural and design specialities of the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture competed for the victory. The three best projects reached the final, the authors of which presented their visions to the academic community of the Invincible University and jury members.
Over the past two and a half years, we have learned to turn our dreams into projects and successfully implement them. After losing everything, there is a desire and a duty to rebuild better than it was. We have started a compelling, promising, inspiring project – about the future, victory, and resilience. I think this will be a cosy place for our academic family, so together we will create the best campus in the country and Europe,
– said Mykola Trofymenko, Rector of MSU.
For project implementation, Mariupol University will engage the expertise of leading green building specialists from the Transform4Europe Alliance of European Universities, as well as the urban bureau Big City Lab, which has extensive experience in transforming cities, kindergartens, schools, and vocational education institutions. In addition, negotiations are underway to include the project in the reconstruction programs of Ukraine from Germany, Italy, Lithuania, and other European countries.
