Feature: China's innovative culture, ICT fascinate Ukrainian students

KIEV, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- "At the moment, China's technological development is much better than any other country in the world," a Ukrainian student Maksym Bolotny told Xinhua on Friday after his recent trip to China.

Bolotny, a fifth-year student at Zaporozhe National Technical University in southern Ukraine, visited China's cities of Beijing and Shenzhen last month under the international educational program "Seeds for the Future," organized by China's technology giant Huawei company.

While talking about his trip during a welcome-home ceremony in Kiev, Bolotny looked enthusiastic and excited. He admitted that though he travelled a lot, he had never seen such innovative ideas and solutions that are implemented in Chinese cities.

"In Beijing, the IoT (Internet of Things) technologies are very well developed. For instance, they allow to freely rent bikes online. Also, people rarely use cash, because they have a payment option using QR codes," Bolotny said.

"In Shenzhen, I was impressed by the smart surveillance cameras, which can recognize faces and voices, and smart information displays, which are helping to find the route and showing the traffic jams and the situation on the roads," he added.

Bolotny said that China's innovation culture became a great surprise and a source of inspiration for him and other students, who participated in the program.

During the two-week trip, Bolotny along with nine other best technology students from Ukraine's top universities, not only discovered China's innovative development, but also deepened knowledge in information and communications technology (ICT) in Huawei's headquarters.

Nataliya Gvozdetska, a student at Igor Sikorsky Kiev Polytechnic Institute, said the participation in the program offered her a unique chance to learn the ICT, which has not yet been implemented in Ukraine.

"We had a course on mobile communications, particularly on the 4G LTE technology. The practical stage was the most interesting for me. We have installed the 4G mobile base station, corrected mistakes and built our own mobile cell. It was wonderful," she told Xinhua.

Gvozdetska said that after participating in the "Seeds for the Future" program, she dreams of working in the ICT sector to introduce innovative technologies in her home country.

Huawei's "Seeds for the Future" program, which started in 2008, is designed to improve the global educational environment and boost knowledge exchanges among young talented people from different countries.

The program, which is implemented in 96 countries and regions across five continents, cultivates local ICT talents, improves people's interest in the telecom industry, and encourages countries and regions to participate in the building of digital communities.

A total of 20 Ukrainian students from 10 universities have participated in the program since its launch in Ukraine in 2016.

Xu Xiaobo, Huawei's regional PR director, spoke highly of Ukraine's talented youth, saying that the Chinese company will not only continue the "Seeds for the Future" program for the Ukrainian university students, but also plans to open the ICT class in Ukraine for teaching school students.

"We believe that with both these programs, we can help Ukraine to train more young ICT experts. I think it is very important for the future ICT development of this country," Xu told Xinhua. Enditem