International internships in Italy and Austria are a new stage in the development of Metinvest Politechnic's educational model. The program was organized in cooperation with Danieli, one of the world's largest manufacturers of equipment for metallurgy. Within its framework, Ukrainian students of the first private mining and metallurgical university visited leading industries, including Voestalpine's production facilities in Austria.
The Voestalpine Metallurgical Group includes 500 companies and affiliated companies in more than 50 countries on all continents. Voestalpine's activities focus on high-tech solutions for the railway infrastructure, aerospace, automotive and energy industries. The company is actively developing digital technologies, process automation and green transformation. For Ukrainian students, this is a real example of how steel production can be innovative, efficient and environmentally responsible.
During the visit, Metinvest Politechnic students familiarised themselves with production lines, quality control systems, approaches to digitalization of processes and the company's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. Among the participants of the internship were specialists from Ukrainian enterprises of Metinvest, who combined work and study thanks to a flexible schedule of the educational process. Ruslan Kriukov works as a senior equipment repair foreman at Kamet Steel, Natalia Chub is a leading specialist of Technology and Quality Directorate quality management service , and Daniil Tymoshenko is a leading power engineer at Zaporizhstal.
For them, this is not just an observation of processes – it was a deep professional immersion: they analysed, asked questions, discussed practices with colleagues, and looked for common ground with Ukrainian metallurgy and their own educational and production tasks.
"For our students, this is not just a trip – it is a deep professional immersion. We see how European metallurgy combines automation, sustainability, and technological culture. And it is our graduates who will be the ones able to implement new approaches at Ukrainian enterprises," says Volodymyr PASHYNSKYI, Professor, Head of the Department of Materials Science and Applied Mechanics at Metinvest Politechnic.
Ruslan Kriukov said that during the internship he had the opportunity to get acquainted with modern technologies and equipment for the production of slabs on a continuous casting machine. "This is really a practical experience that I plan to use in my thesis. And even more importantly, it will be implemented at Kamet Steel to increase production efficiency and expand the product mix in the future. Such knowledge is not about "seeing", but about "changing”. I believe that this experience will contribute to the recovery of Ukraine and the renewal of its metallurgical industry after the victory," the student added.
"We saw how innovations can work for the benefit of both business and the environment. And last but not least, we realized what role a modern engineer can play in these changes. For us, this is not only an acquaintance with technology, but also an incentive to act, at home, at our enterprises," Daniil TYMOSHENKO, a student and scholarship holder of the Metinvest Group CEO, shared his impressions.
International internships are an important component of Metinvest Politechnic's educational model. The university created by Metinvest Group precisely to combine academic training with real challenges of industry – both at the national and international levels. Today, students are already integrated into real production processes at Metinvest's enterprises in Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia, Kamianske, and thanks to international practice, they also study how these processes develop in the world. This forms a new generation of engineers capable of restoring and transforming Ukrainian industry.
