How did Ukrainian get into Hyper Island and will study for free at the best business school in Europe?

Who I am?

Hello! My name is Kat and it's my first story here. So, let's start!

I'm a journalist and pr-specialist. Before February 24 I worked in Ukrainian hockey, but the war ruined all my plans. I lived in Europe, then I returned to Kyiv and did not think to go anywhere, but life had other plans.

This story about me and Hyper Island

What is Hyper Island?

Hyper Island is a digital creative business school with a consulting side, specializing in industry training using digital technologies. The school has branches in Brazil, Great Britain, USA and Singapore.

Hyper Island offers full-time and part-time training programs, as well as intensive courses designed for industry leaders. Hyper Island’s various Masters programs are accredited through Teesside University.

How did I decide to apply?

Having gone abroad because of the war in March, I honestly did not even think about whether I wanted to stay in Europe. There were no options not to return home to Kyiv. But it didn’t happen as expected :)

Everything started quite banal. At the same time I arrived, the woman who sheltered us in Sweden was finishing Hyper Island. She talked almost every day about how this school turned her life around, made her look at things in a new way and changed the vector of her professional development. And after that, she always suggested that I must apply for the new school year.

I understood that I did not plan to stay in Sweden, but I decided to try in order to somehow distract myself from the news. Why not?

Honestly, I didn’t believe that my application task would be successful, so I didn’t worry when I did the creative task for submitting the application. This year, it was to come up with anything (a product, program, device, company) that would help people connect after the COVID-19 pandemic.

I decided to use the idea I described in my master’s thesis and talk about a platform that will connect sports fans and clubs or entire championships during the pandemic. I shot and edited the video, sent the application on almost the last day of the admissions campaign for the program “Motion Design and Creative Marketing” and… successfully forgot about it.

At the end of April, I received a letter that I passed the first stage of selection and was invited to Admission Day. All future students who passed the first stage gathered for an online meeting. From 8 in the morning until 5 in the evening, we did 2 tasks — group and individual.

In the group task, we analyzed and solved various situations related to user feedback about working with certain platforms on artificial intelligence.

Spoiler: Hyper doesn’t look tasks are done correctly. The commission is more interested in how a particular person works in a team — he knows how to find a common language and compromise, he shows leadership qualities and how he communicates with others.

The second part was a personal task, where each entrant had to create a new program for the school by filming a video for one and a half minutes.

Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the challenges faced by all Ukrainian companies, I, as a certified journalist and PR specialist, came up with a program on anti-crisis communications.

In short, after passing this stage, I again successfully forgot about the fact that I applied for studies. I returned to Kyiv, started working and had absolutely no plans to move anywhere else. But life had other plans for my plans.

One day, I received a letter with the subject “Congratulations! You have been accepted to Hyper Island!”. 30 seconds after I saw the letter, the realization came to me that I had entered.

Why free?

Hyper Island is a Swedish school. Therefore, residents of the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland) have the right to free education. Citizens of other countries can enter only on a paid basis.

When I arrived in Sweden, I immediately applied for a residence permit. This gave me the right to work and receive medicine, which was the most necessary at the time.

Having received a Swedish ID card, I also received all the rights that Swedes have. So, I had the right to apply for free study at Hyper Island. And I succeeded.

By the way, the most interesting thing is that the card with the personal number, which was a necessary part for the registration, came to me the day after the end of the introductory company in Hyper. Maybe it’s fate?

What’s next?

My program is designed for 45 weeks, that is, almost one calendar year. The study is hybrid — on campus in Stockholm and online.

Therefore, a move to Stockholm and a step into a new life await me.