Rebuilding Ukraine - one university's bold vision

"This is incredible. It signals that leadership can and should reflect academic diversity and that the most important criterion is qualification, not gender. And it is a trend across Ukraine. In the past year, women have also won leadership elections at the Kyiv Aviation Institute and the Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University in Ivano-Frankivsk. In our society, mothers and women have strong roles. The war is a crisis and maybe there is a feeling that a woman can protect us."

"Yes, I believe in the transformative power of ambition. Moreover, Ukrainian universities have long been underestimated. Our intellectual resilience, especially in times of crisis, is extraordinary. In my mind, the best university is the one that is the best place for people. We're not just talking about rankings but about the feeling that 'I like to spend my time here, not only for work or education, but also because this is a good place for me'."

"Brain drain is a problem in Ukraine. That's why it is important to show our young people that they can and must stay in the country, not only for education but also for their future careers and to rebuild it. We need sustained investment in research infrastructure. We need new laboratories and - importantly - deeper international partnerships. We need a culture that rewards innovation and inter-disciplinary thinking. But above all, we need to trust it's possible, and act accordingly."

Nataliya Shakhovska became the first female rector of Lviv Polytechnic National University in May and now oversees 35,000 students and 2,500 academic staff. She combines administrative leadership during the fourth year of the Russian invasion with active research in artificial intelligence. Leadership appointments have emphasized qualification over gender, with similar female leaders emerging at other Ukrainian institutions. The university aims to become a leading European institution through investment in research infrastructure, new laboratories, deeper international partnerships, interdisciplinary innovation, and efforts to retain young talent to counter brain drain.

Read at Nature