Kyiv Polytechnic is known not only in our country. More than 32,000 students study here, of whom over 800 are citizens of 50 countries. Since the founding of the university in September 1898, KPI has been the alma mater for more than 6,000 highly qualified specialists from 125 countries. By the way, the Minister of Civil Aviation of China, Liu Jiangfeng, is also a 1961 graduate of KPI. And the head of Hainan Province (PRC) graduated from the polytechnic two years earlier, in 1959. Among the university's famous alumni are the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary to Ukraine, Janos Kisfalvi, and the Mongolian backup cosmonaut Ganzerin Maidarjavin. The list of former KPI graduates and current experts in science, technology, business, and politics could go on forever. The names of Dmitri Mendeleev, Sergei Korolev, Evgeny and Boris Paton are associated with KPI. As early as 1922, a section of KPI graduates was established in Poland, and in China there is even an Association of Kyiv Polytechnic Graduates.
– Most foreign students come to us from China. Then come India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Korea, – Vasyl Syrovatka, head of the preparatory department of KPI, told the correspondent of 'Zagranitsy'. – The most popular among foreigners is the Faculty of Informatics and Computer Engineering. In second place is the Faculty of Applied Mathematics, followed by the faculties of Management, Linguistics, and Law. Most foreigners study on a commercial basis, some come through intergovernmental exchange programs. Sometimes companies pay for their education (for example, the Vietnamese oil refining company 'Petrovietnam' paid for the education of a whole group of Vietnamese students).
Before the collapse of the Union, mainly Europeans came to study at KPI – Poles, Czechs, Bulgarians, Romanians, and even Germans. Now the priorities are for Asian and African countries.
The admission mechanism for foreigners is quite simple: an applicant submits an application and pays the tuition fee for the preparatory department ($1,000), and he can study at the 'zero course' in any city in Ukraine – be it Lviv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, or Donetsk. Here, foreigners are taught Russian language (6 hours a day) and the basics of individual disciplines. If a student successfully completes the preparatory department, he is automatically enrolled in the university.