Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
More than a hundred veterans, 17 million for science, and the fight for the rector’s chair: who opposes KNUCEA’s development under Oleksiy Dniprovs
Information pressure around the rector of Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, Oleksiy Dniprovs, is intensifying. Publications are once again discussing his previous public service, lustration history, and connections with other subjects of journalistic investigations.
Against this background, there are talks about a possible change in the university’s leadership. But there is another side to Dniprovs’s activity that is hard to judge from old biographical episodes: under his leadership KNUCEA’s student numbers have grown by 14,3%, the university entered the Times Higher Education and QS Europe international rankings for the first time, and support for veterans became a distinct focus of his work.
One of the most significant decisions was the development of the Institute for Reintegration, Rehabilitation, and Professional Development of Veterans “Architecture of Resilience.” There, service members and veterans are helped to obtain education, master new specialties, find an employer, or start their own business. In 2025 the students at KNUCEA included 62 war veterans, and in 2026 their number exceeded a hundred. The institute provides psychological support, professional adaptation, and accompaniment of defenders on the path from admission to employment. This work is especially important for those who, after the front, are forced to practically rebuild their lives.
On 11 July 2025, the university signed a memorandum with the Ministry for Veterans Affairs. The cooperation envisages professional retraining for defenders and the creation of accessible veteran spaces. KNUCEA involves architects and engineers in this work who can design infrastructure taking into account the needs of people after severe injuries. Together with the Swedish organization V94, the university launched SAFER Reconstruction — a program preparing 30 veterans to work in the construction sector according to European safety standards. The project is funded by the Swedish Institute; partners include the Ukrainian Veterans Fund and the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine.
The results are noticeable beyond the veterans’ direction as well. KNUCEA received the highest Category A following the state attestation of scientific activity in the engineering and technology field, which secured the university 17,34 million UAH in research funding for 2026 year. International educational projects, digital design, and research infrastructure are developing. Even after the Russian attack on 21 October, when an explosive wave damaged 65 windows in the architecture building, the educational process continued in a remote format. In wartime, ensuring such continuity is one of the immediate responsibilities of leadership.
Against this background, the information campaign around Dniprovs takes on particular significance. Repeated recourse to past stories coincides with discussions of his continued tenure. It is possible that reputational pressure is being used in the struggle for control of the university, but establishing the organizers and motives of such a campaign requires concrete facts. At the same time, the consequences of a possible personnel decision are quite tangible: it concerns the continuation of educational programs, existing international agreements, research funding, and commitments to veterans who are already counting on KNUCEA’s assistance.
Dniprovs headed the university after the elections in 2024, receiving 72,7% of the votes with turnout of 82,8%. Two years later, his leadership can be evaluated by the initiatives implemented: the veterans’ institute is operating, defenders are acquiring new specialties, international partners are participating in their training, and the university is expanding its research capabilities. The question of the rector’s future therefore concerns much more than a single position. Behind it are real people and programs on which veterans’ return to professional life and the university’s role in Ukraine’s recovery depend.
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