Artificial Intelligence as a Core Element in Educational Collaboration Projects of TH Wildau and NURE Kharkiv (Ukraine)

Abstract

After Ukraine's independence in 1991, economic crises, emigration, and since 2014 the war in Donbass led to a sustained brain drain. For Western universities this became a brain gain – including the Technical University Wildau. Ukrainian scientists and researchers successfully integrated and a close cooperation with the National University of Radio Electronics in Kharkiv developed. Starting in 2021, several joint projects were implemented: Two DAAD autumn schools in Kyiv and Kharkiv combined nanotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI) with specialized, interdisciplinary, and soft-skill formats. After the russian invasion in 2022, TH Wildau responded with the “Wildau Welcome IT School,” an IT-oriented program to catch refugee students, which in some cases also enabled the transition to further studies or to the labour market. With the DAAD program “Ukraine digital,” the “Wildau Kharkiv IT-Bridge” (2022–2025) was subsequently created. It provided financial support to Ukrainian lecturers and enabled online IT teaching for students from all over Ukraine. Over 400 modules, 150 lecturers, and around 9,000 certificates attest to its success. Content ranged from computer science fundamentals to AI applications, progressively taught in English and with innovative teaching formats such as AR/VR. From 2025, the joint bachelor's program CoSMoS-NT, within the framework of the DAAD German-Ukrainian University Network (DUHN), is intended to consolidate the cooperation. The English-language program in computer science with a focus on AI combines Ukrainian and German study phases and addresses the program goals of reconstruction, internationalization, and European integration. AI functions as a central subject-specific and strategic element.