CAS Rebuild Ukraine

In the certificate of advanced studies (CAS) course “Rebuild Ukraine”, refugees from Ukraine learn how they can make an enduring contribution to rebuilding their country. The SCDH supports the CAS course with a simulation and evaluation of the floor plans for the maternity hospital in Dnipro.

The war in Ukraine has had dire consequences for the country’s population. Important infrastructure, private and public buildings and supply networks have been destroyed, depriving the Ukrainian population of the foundation on which to lead safe, secure and peaceful lives. The war has also had catastrophic impacts on landscapes, nature and the environment.

The CAS course “Rebuild Ukraine” is a pioneering project that makes a concrete, enduring contribution to reconstruction in Ukraine. The course takes a capacity-building approach, enabling people associated with the construction sector in Ukraine to help shape, actively and with foresight, their country’s reconstruction. Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO, provides administrative and organisational support for the course. Universities of applied sciences, companies and private individuals also support the CAS in a variety of ways.

The SCDH has supported the CAS course through the simulation of plans for the maternity hospital in Dnipro in the Extended-Reality Simulation Area. The hospital plans include a passageway connecting it to an air raid shelter. This passageway is to be built in a manner that will enable the safe performance of emergency surgeries in it at any time. Using telerobots, a group of students and doctors in Dnipro in Ukraine were able to test the projected floor plans, using different scenarios, in the SCDH’s Living Lab in Nidau. “This was very valuable. Now we know what works and where the floor plan must be adjusted,” said Alla Oliinyk, representative of the project team.