Education Lights 2026: Lviv IT Cluster honours mentors, curators and lecturers of its bachelor’s programmes

On 27 September, as part of IT Arena 2026 in Lviv, the Lviv IT Cluster education team held its annual Education Community Event. The event brought together around 100 participants: heads and lecturers of higher education and vocational institutions, curators and mentors of the Cluster’s bachelor’s programmes, and representatives of member companies. Participants reviewed the year’s results, outlined directions for developing the programmes, and honoured the professionals who work with students from their first lecture to the defence of their team projects.

This year, 45 new mentors joined the education community, including specialists from SoftServe, N-IX, Reface, PrivatBank, Infineon and Sigma Software.

For the third time, special awards went to the laureates of the Education Lights award, presented to professionals who have developed the Cluster’s education initiatives for many years.

“Each award tells the story of people who invest their knowledge, time and belief in young people every day. Through their example, mentors, curators and lecturers inspire students to pursue their ideas with confidence, work in teams and build the future of Ukrainian tech education,” said Yuliia Tsymbala, Head of the Education Team at Lviv IT Cluster.

This year’s awards went to:

Nataliia Melnykova — University Curator 2026
Nataliia Melnykova headed the department and curated the Artificial Intelligence programme at Lviv Polytechnic National University, where she now serves as Vice-Rector for International Relations. The programme attracts strong applicants: this year, 70% of them scored at least 200 points in at least one subject. Around the department, Nataliia Melnykova built a community of students, lecturers and partners united by shared events, camps and trips to the mountains. She also established systematic cooperation between the department and IT companies and brought industry representatives in to work with students.

Mykhailo Kropyva — Industry Curator 2026
Mykhailo Kropyva curates cybersecurity programmes at three universities at once: Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv Polytechnic National University and Lviv State University of Life Safety. Each programme has its own specifics, and Mykhailo ensures their content reflects the current state of the field. He involves students in practical work and helps them build careers in cybersecurity, maintaining a steady connection between the programmes and the industry.

Olena Shestakovych — Teamwork Lecturer 2026
Olena Shestakovych teaches teamwork in the UI/UX Design programme at the Lviv National Academy of Arts. Students complete projects for real clients, including municipal institutions, in teams made up entirely of designers. Olena also organised the mentors’ work: her guideline sets out an action plan, timeline and possible tasks, so newcomers can join the process quickly.

Viacheslav Leskiv — Mentor 2026
For more than five years, Viacheslav Leskiv has worked with student teams across various programmes. This year he mentored the largest number of teams, and when the season ran short of mentors towards the end, he took on several more.

Roman Babiuk — Vocational Mentor 2026
Roman Babiuk is a master of industrial training and an IT lecturer at Higher Vocational School No. 29 in Lviv. In 2025–2026, he guided a student team with the SenSyth project to the final of the Junior Achievement competition, where the students won a prize. Roman is also introducing project-based learning at the school and this year began developing a robotics track.

The education community also discussed the role of teamwork in student training during the panel discussion “Team project: teach collaboration or build a startup?” Panellists considered where the main focus should lie, on collaboration skills or on results; how an educational project differs from an MVP and a startup; whether teamwork should be mandatory for all students; and how to assess each member’s contribution fairly. Participants also examined how to keep strong teams together after the course ends and what kind of support from an industry mentor strengthens learning without doing the students’ work for them.

The discussion was moderated by Zenovii Veres, Head of the Internet of Things programme and Chief Digital Transformation Officer at Lviv Polytechnic National University, and Senior Solution Architect at SoftServe. Panellists included Oleksandr Reminnyi, startup entrepreneur, PhD in Engineering, teamwork lecturer at Lviv Polytechnic and author of the YouTube podcast and book Startup Kitchen; Viacheslav Leskiv, Python Tech Lead at Levi9 and a long-standing mentor of student teams; Ilona Kenio, a student of the System Analysis (Data Science) programme at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and CEO of Aima; and Maksym Zabrodin, COO of Ideas Center UCU.

Sviatoslav Kavetskyi, Chair of the Cluster’s Supervisory Board, recalled how this model began: “When the Cluster started working with universities on bachelor’s programmes, it was a long-term bet. Strong engineers emerge when a practitioner works alongside students from their first year and the programme is written jointly by the university and the industry. Today, the country’s technological competitiveness depends on the quality of engineering education.”

The model covers 24 bachelor’s programmes at five universities in Lviv and Kyiv. This year, 2,050 students enrolled, almost 500 more than last year. Competition averaged six applicants per state-funded place, reaching 15 for Cybersecurity at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv.

“Demand for the Cluster’s programmes is growing, and our task is to ensure the quality of education grows along with student numbers. Strong IT education emerges where the university, business and the Cluster share responsibility for the result,” said Mykhailo Lemak, CEO of Lviv IT Cluster.

To join the Lviv IT Cluster education community, contact Yuliia Tsymbala at julia.tsymbala@itcluster.lviv.ua.