From named scholarships and endowed professorships to infrastructure solutions, Ukrainian businesses are increasingly investing in the Kyiv School of Economics as a long-term institutional solution. At KSE, this model has been in place since 2016 and today brings together more than 50 corporate partners. This was shared by Svitlana Denysenko, Director of KSE Foundation, in a comment prepared at NV’s request.
Read more below. Full story by NV.
Which companies invest in KSE University — and how?
Until 2022, the Kyiv School of Economics received its core financial support from the Government of Sweden and several strategic business partners in Ukraine: Dragon Capital, ICU (Investment Capital Ukraine), FUIB (First Ukrainian International Bank), Farmak, Nova Post, and Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine.
During this period, Dragon Capital made the largest institutional investment in the development of the KSE ecosystem by purchasing a building for the university — now known as the KSE Dragon Capital Building.
Today, KSE is supported by American, British, and European companies, private philanthropists, as well as Ukrainian businesses and donors. These are partners who view investment in education as an institutional, long-term commitment. Over the past two months, during a campaign in support of student scholarships, investment in KSE education came, in particular, from our long-term partners — both international and Ukrainian — including ICU, FUIB, Farmak, Zagoriy Foundation, UMGI, OTP Bank, and EBS. New partners have also joined, including Piraeus Bank and Retail Group.
Most contributions take the form of dedicated funding, meaning targeted donations for:
scholarships for talented youth and veterans;
memorial scholarships honoring fallen defenders from the KSE community;
attracting world-class faculty;
development of the university’s infrastructure, including bomb shelters.
As of today, the KSE Dragon Capital Building offers a wide range of partner-supported spaces and services: a Nova Post parcel locker on one of the floors; a learning space created with Genesis; lectures hosted in a TAS Group auditorium; online meetings held in a conference room equipped by Logitech. In another KSE space, students can attend workshops in an engineering laboratory established by Vodafone.
In 2016, at the very start of KSE’s corporate fundraising efforts, the first partner to support the university was Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine. At the time, the bank established the first endowed professorship, covering a faculty member’s annual compensation as well as their teaching and research activities.
Other companies, including FUIB and ICU, joined KSE through named scholarship programs. Today, KSE educates entire cohorts of students receiving named grants founded by our partners.
How much funding does the university receive per student? What scale of investment are we talking about?
In 2025, total targeted contributions from Ukrainian businesses in support of KSE University amounted to nearly USD 1 million. In addition, there are contributions aimed at the institutional development of the broader KSE ecosystem, from which the University is also a beneficiary. These include investments in campus spaces, team support, and organizational growth. Such contributions increase year by year as the student body expands, new team members are hired, and infrastructure continues to develop.
When did this trend of cooperation emerge in Ukraine — and what triggered it? Is the number of partnerships growing year by year?
During the full-scale war, Ukraine’s fundraising culture has rapidly evolved — from episodic donations to sustained, everyday engagement. However, a stable culture of supporting education has yet to fully take root.
Pioneers of educational fundraising in Ukraine include our colleagues at Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU). For KSE, corporate fundraising dates back to 2016, when we began systematically building this model.
Support for KSE as an institution did not emerge overnight. Trust was built first; over time, that trust transformed into stable financial support and significant investments in educational and partnership-driven projects.
Today, more than 50 Ukrainian companies support KSE University. We have around 10 strategic Ukrainian partners with long-term support agreements, as well as partners who consistently support various projects year after year.
What motivates businesses to invest in universities?
Businesses invest in universities when they see them as a long-term solution. This is not about reputational gestures, but about investing in people, knowledge, and institutions that shape the quality of the market, the state, and the economy. Universities train talent, produce applied research, and create environments for innovation. For businesses, this is a way to reduce skills shortages, improve the quality of management decisions, and work with the future in a systemic rather than reactive way. When a university like KSE operates transparently, thinks entrepreneurially, and delivers results, investment in education becomes part of a growth strategy rather than a standalone expense.
Our partners see tangible impact from their investments: since the start of the full-scale invasion, the number of KSE students has increased by approximately five times, reaching 1,648 students; we have launched 17 new academic programs. Eighty-seven percent of our graduates remain in Ukraine.
Our philanthropists want to be present at the beginning of a major story — to stand at the origins of a new institution with global potential.
In which areas is the university most interested in business partnerships in the coming years? Does business take part in shaping or updating curricula?
At KSE, we focus on the most relevant and strategic needs of the country. We are in constant dialogue with businesses and respond to their demand as employers. This approach has led us to launch new disciplines (such as Urban Studies), establish an Engineering School, and roll out ProfTech programs. Students complete internships at partner companies, while company leaders engage with students through mentoring sessions.
KSE operates under a dual strategy. On the one hand, fundraising ensures the institution’s stability and long-term development. On the other, partnerships with businesses allow us to understand real labor market needs, involve companies in shaping practical, up-to-date skills, and jointly build a strong and resilient educational community.