In our previous issue’s first article headed “Self-education, a revolution in education system” we asked a question, “How do Ukrainians respond to global tendencies in education?” Today we offer a logical continuation of the subject. Ukrainian education has something to boast of. MIM-Kyiv (the International Institute of Management) was the first school in Eastern Europe to launch a distance education curriculum in a unique form.
MIM’s “Business platform” is a solution which enables audiences from different cities to communicate across the country with total physical presence effect. Besides, Internet connection allows to communicate with interlocutors elsewhere on the globe. Thus, MIM-Kyiv aspires to stimulate the formation of civilized business environment and strong business in all regions of Ukraine without exceptions, according to the school’s representative.
The Day has spoken with Iryna TYKHOMYROVA, president of the Kyiv business school MIM-Kyiv, about the possibilities offered by MIM’s “Business platform,” plans concerning its future development, and the first format, in which the project is realized.
“It all began with the idea of developing IT business in Ukraine. Today IT managers worldwide are not just people responsible for computer technology. On the contrary, IT sector is becoming a company’s hub, vital for doing business. And today it is the highest time to revise the concept of an IT expert.
“Global experience shows that top CEOs typically have a finance background. It means that top managers are mostly individuals with an experience in corporate finances, i.e. a finance manager is often promoted to the CEO. Operations managers tend to rise to CEO less frequently, and marketing and sales managers even less. As far as IT managers go, they are the rarest birds in top management, except for ‘computer’ companies. However, this situation is poised to change soon. In the West, the process is under way already.
“Aware of these tendencies, we decided to launch a program for IT experts, first of all for those, who have an ambition to promote to IT directors. A number of questions arose immediately, namely, how this program should be implemented, and who can participate in it. There were no problems with Kyivans, but we wanted to draw people from all over Ukraine. Of course, we have experience of working with people from the regions. We have this module format. They come for a full week every two month and learn, attend presentations and lectures, and take exams.
“Yet if you calculate the cost of the program for Kyivans and the residents of other regions, for the latter it is almost twice as expensive: they need to rent apartments and pay traveling costs. Besides, they have to take time off their regular jobs. Together it amounts to quite an investment. By the way, there are very few female students in these programs. It is much more of a challenge for a woman to leave her work and family, than for a man.
“Thus the idea suggested itself to develop a special distance learning program. The project was developed by Incom [now Octava Capital. – Author] and its CEO Oleksandr Kardakov (our alumnus, by the way) jointly with Cisco Systems, a company which deals in networking technology and services. We turned to them for professional software for a non-business related program, which has an industrial bias. Then we had an idea, Cisco being a global leader in remote access service and equipment, to use their products. This is, in fact, how our business platform was born.
“By the way, we had already worked with this technology. Together with the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) from the US in 2007 we gave presentations using distance access equipment. American professors gave presentations for our students from their own classrooms.
“That is why, when we were renovating our building, we provided facilities for the installing of Cisco equipment. In 2007 we just tried it out. In 2010, we launched a full-fledged learning program.”
MIM-Kyiv is in fact the first to dare and use distance communication technology in business education, right?
“In my opinion, we are just first: in any kind of education, not only business education. We are the first in Ukraine. And it is important to emphasize that it is not merely distance education. When we got down to implementing the project and purchased Cisco-telepresence equipment, we consulted our American colleagues to see what we should call these programs. Because distance education is already compromised due to the lag in time, it is rather ‘education by correspondence.’ Meanwhile, Cisco technology allows learning in real time.”
Isn’t it possible to establish real-time connection using Skype, for instance?
“It is, but it is a matter of quality. Cisco has a virtually different principle of camera operation, and there are special 3D projectors. The teacher can write on the board, and the picture will be immediately digitized. You can stream articles, graphs, draw diagrams, and so on. This equipment allows to provide a maximum reality effect. When the professor delivers a talk, he or she can see the class, and what every student is doing: who is writing, who is chatting, and who is just daydreaming. The picture is in HD, and absolutely synchronic with sound.”
What was your target audience when you launched the project?
“Our first trial presentations were held in 2008. We tried working on leased equipment to build virtual bridges between audiences in Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, and Donetsk. But back then we were just trying out the technology.
“Later, last April, when we purchased our own equipment, we were able to implement a full-fledged project, which we dubbed ‘Business platform.’ Under a corporate program, our teachers worked online with students from Prykarpattia OblEnergo. They could not leave their jobs and travel to Kyiv to have classes there. The employment of ‘Business platform’ allowed us to teach them at a distance, without them actually leaving their workplace.
“I have to admit the customer would not agree to this experiment at once. They were questioning it. But it was the only way for both, us and them, to organize the training. And it turned out actually to work! When at the end of the first presentation our teachers got a round of applause, it was clear that ice was broken.”
This said, there is already a group of students, who have completed a curriculum on “Business platform.” Did you measure the efficiency of this method of training compared to the conventional methods?
“No, but we think that the best assessment of this method’s efficacy is the second batch of students from the same company, already doing the course with the help of the ‘Business platform.’”
After that, you decided to apply this method to teach a MBA curriculum in the IT sector?
“Yes, it was another big step in our evolution. Unlike a corporate program, where you typically work with one customer who invites people to sign up for the program, it was an open market. We recruited people from the open market. We offered our services to people who came to get a MBA in IT.
“In the first case we had a teacher in Kyiv, and the students in Ivano-Frankivsk. Now we have a teacher in Kyiv and three classes, in Kyiv, Lviv, and Vinnytsia. In fact, we have three audiences connected by Cisco-telepresence. The teacher works live with his class in Kyiv. The audience in Lviv can see the teacher and the students in Kyiv and Vinnytsia. The students in Vinnytsia see Kyiv and Lviv. They can have a discussion in Kyiv, or Vinnytsia and Kyiv, Lviv and Vinnytsia, or Kyiv and Lviv, but it is moderated by the teacher from Kyiv. That is, there is a virtual auditorium divided between three cities.
“This gives people in the province access to quality business education. Most Ukrainian business schools are concentrated in the capital, which makes access to training tougher for people from other regions. Therefore, our ‘Business platform’ is a breakthrough in alternative education management.”
How do you test the students with Cisco-telepresence?
“Testing is something that caused absolutely no problems. You send out tasks, and students do them. There are special applications which allow to test student’s knowledge quite effectively without their physical presence in the classroom.”
What was the most challenging in teaching with the help of the “Business platform”? What barriers did you have to overcome as you implemented the project?
“First of all, the psychological barrier. Of course, it takes time before both teacher and student get used to the idea of ‘being on TV.’ They will forget and eventually stop paying attention to it later, but the first acquaintance is really special. And only later, when the ‘TV’ turns on, you come to realize what kind of program it is and how it works.
“Psychological barrier is a strong factor. Maybe, this is why we decided to implement our first program using the ‘Business platform’ for IT staff, and no one else. They are more used to communications know-how. Besides, they get a kick out of it.”
Were there any technical obstacles to this technology in Ukraine, because this kind of equipment requires high-speed Internet connection?
“No, none.”
How much does this technology cost? How much does it cost to equip, let’s say, one classroom?
“It is very expensive equipment. I cannot tell you the price. However, I must say that Cisco supported us as a partner, since they, too, have their interest in this project. This is an absolutely new step for the Ukrainian market. No one in Ukraine has similar equipment. Moreover, it is unique in entire Eastern Europe. We at the MIM became virtually pioneers, therefore, we have a priority in using this equipment. By the way, we have already got several offers concerning joint implementation of projects, based on this platform, jointly with Poland and Slovenia. They want us to share our experience and help them to implement similar programs.”
Is a program based on the “Business platform” more expensive than conventional MIM modules?
“The cost of a corporate program, which includes trips to Kyiv, is much higher than that of the distance learning course.”
That means that the tuition fee is higher, but the traveling and accommodation expenses, plus the loss incurred from the employees’ absence from workplace, make the conventional program more expensive?
“The fees are roughly the same. But if you add up everything, at the end of The Day the new course is more economical.”
What proportion of current MIM classes is given as a distant learning course on the basis of this computer platform? Are you planning to increase it? Why?
“As a matter of fact, we have two curricula. One is corporate, and the other, MBA in IT. We are past the planning stage at the moment. Today we have this joint project, with Vinnytsia and Lviv, dubbed ‘Management Studies.’ We planned to launch this project as an opportunity to promote this new technology among quite a wide audience. At the moment, the MIM charges no fee for participation in ‘Management Studies.’ And we do not impose limits on our audience. Virtually anyone can join the class if they are interested. The themes are mostly philosophical, but all of them concern business.
“By the by, when we resumed ‘Management Studies’ after the New Year and Christmas holidays, we asked our audience how many of them had attended our classes before. Everyone raised their hands.”
As far as I can understand, they are your potential students?
“I really hope for that.
“We have a few more projects, which we are planning to implement with the help of this platform. In fact, its capacities are much broader. You can hold roundtable discussions, business meetings, corporate conferences, and so on. This technology is already widely popular globally. One could say it is a corporate standard.
“Besides, for us this ‘Business platform’ is important as it allows to ensure high-quality content for our curricula. For example, if we wanted to invite a foreign expert to give a presentation or take part in our debate, we had to find a ‘slot’ in his schedule, arrange for the agenda, settle financial and formal aspects of his stay in Ukraine, such as traveling expenses, accommodation, leisure, and so on, and so forth. It all amounted to quite an event. Meanwhile, the ‘Business platform’ makes it a lot simpler and easier for us. We just have to arrange for the time when the invited expert has to come to a specially equipped laboratory, pushes a button and for a certain amount of time, say, two or three hours, participates in an event, as arranged. And we have a total presence effect: they can joke, comment, speak, and even interrupt his/her interlocutors.”
Now you have a class of IT staff doing a course on the basis of the “Business platform.” Who is next in line?
“Before we met, I had an appointment at the foundation Vidrodzhennia. We want to implement a training project for journalists who write on economic issues. We are frequently approached for comments. The most popular questions today are, ‘What is the exchange rate for dollar going to be like?’ and ‘What currency is best for your savings?’ Once a journalist, who was recording our expert’s commentary on GDP, asked what Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin had got to do with it [The Ukrainian abbreviation for GDP, VVP, actually coincides with Putin’s initials. – Ed.]. And there is nothing funny about it. The level of our economic journalism badly needs upgrading.
“We hope that we can cooperate with our partners to implement such a project. MIM-Kyiv is prepared to take responsibility for the economic block. But there should also be purely media block in the curriculum. We hope there will be an international media structure, which will teach our media men how economic materials are written in the West. And this is where we can use Cisco’s telepresence equipment. Such equipment has been already installed by all companies like Bloomberg or Reuters.
“Besides, there is an idea of a very interesting project, to organize ‘The Day’s Seasons at MIM-Kyiv.’ We here talk a lot about business. But I sense in our community an urge to talk about something absolutely different, outside shop. We cannot do that on our own. We have connections in business, but there are not so many individuals who can claim to be opinion leaders. That is why we would like to invite The Day to talk about the eternal matters: moral commandments, life values, living history which compels us to change our ways. In a word, about everything The Day writes about.
“The Day has been supporting us for a long time, helping us, and in our turn, we also want to support The Day.
“Our task is to create an expert platform for Ukraine, involving all top experts in key spheres of public life. As Vitalii Haiduk, director of our supervisory board, says, ‘MIM is more than just a business school.’
“We are called ‘MIM-Kyiv,’ but we see ourselves as a nationwide school of business. This is also the view of our supervisory board. But we cannot maintain this status if we only teach to a handful of students in the capital. We have to move across the country. Today, our prospective students in the province cannot come to us. Thus, we must come to them.”
Today it means Vinnytsia, Lviv, and Kyiv. These are, if I can put it so, the areas of the highest investment activity in Ukraine. Which are the next in line?
“In fact, we have offers from all regions. In particular, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Odesa, and Kharkiv want us to launch ‘Management Studies’ there, too. The only thing that keeps us is that we don’t want to open this platform just for the sake of opening it. We want to fill it with feasible projects of well-structured curricula.”
