For UCU Business School and the Ukrainian Catholic University, working with veterans and their families is a key strategic priority. We strive to create an environment where defenders feel supported and gain the perspectives and tools needed to realize their potential in civilian life — translating their unique military experience into strong managerial competencies.
The Resilience School: Strengthening Veteran Entrepreneurship
A cornerstone initiative in developing veterans’ entrepreneurial potential is the Resilience School for Veteran Business, implemented by UCU Business School in partnership with the Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund. The initiative is designed for small and medium-sized business owners among veterans, their family members, and the families of fallen or missing soldiers. Its primary goal is to enhance the competitiveness of veteran-led businesses by fostering responsible leadership and enabling access to international markets.
What makes the Resilience School unique is its long-term, expert-driven support model. Over the course of four months, each business participates in three advisory board sessions, receiving independent strategic insights from experienced practitioners. Participants then continue their journey through executive education programs while working with mentors — graduates of UCU Business School’s master’s programs. The eight-month learning track includes ten individual sessions focused on achieving specific business goals. This approach empowers veteran entrepreneurs to scale their ventures and integrate into a strong community of responsible leaders.
In parallel, the School actively engages with the broader business community. A large-scale study on the experience of small and medium-sized enterprises working with veterans is currently underway. The survey aims to identify real challenges in employment and adaptation, while event series such as HR Friday provide a platform to discuss labor market trends and practical tools for reintegrating veterans into the workforce.
Education as a Foundation for a New Beginning
UCU Business School offers a comprehensive range of educational opportunities for those transitioning from military to civilian life. Active-duty service members, veterans, and their family members receive ongoing discounts on all short- and medium-term executive programs, covering areas from marketing and finance to leadership and people management.
The School’s impact is amplified by being part of the broader UCU support ecosystem. When a veteran joins the Business School, they gain access to a comprehensive university-wide network that addresses diverse needs.
For example, the UCU Medical Clinic, through its Veteran+ program, has provided free care to 240 veterans and their family members, while the Legal Clinic has handled more than 5,000 requests related to legal support for military personnel.
Beyond general management courses and master’s programs — where veterans and their families benefit from special tuition rates — the university community offers a range of specialized initiatives. These include the certificate program Veteran Leadership and comprehensive online courses delivered by UCU Online. In particular, the program Returning from War: Mind, Body, Society equips veterans and their families with knowledge in psychological adaptation, physical rehabilitation, prosthetics, and legal matters such as obtaining veteran status.
Spiritual and philosophical recovery is addressed through the course The Dignity of the Wounded Body, a 13-module exploration of the theology of trauma and human dignity.
To support professional development and alignment with today’s labor market, UCU also offers courses such as Foundations of Digital Literacy, covering artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and Google tools, as well as Returning from War: First Steps in IT, where experts help veterans explore career paths in technology, including project management, development, and testing. Financial resilience is addressed in the course Financial Tactics: How to Spend and Invest Wisely, which develops strategic thinking, cost management skills, and capital-building approaches in a new financial reality.
The Cost of Freedom: Impact in Numbers
Memory is an essential part of our identity. As of today, 38 members of the UCU community — students, alumni, staff, and their relatives — have lost their lives in Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. To honor their legacy, the university establishes named endowment scholarships in their memory. These funds are initiated by families and the university community, each aiming to raise an endowment of $100,000 to ensure sustainable support for future students.
Among them are scholarships named after Oles Shcherba, Dmytro Slyvka, Taras Bobanych (“Hammer”), Dmytro Kotsiubailo (“Da Vinci”), Yurii Osadchuk, and Artem Dymyd. A particularly meaningful initiative for the Business School community is the scholarship in honor of Hero Oleh Vorobiov, established jointly by the School and his family. Oleh was a participant in the Master of Science in Technology Management program and the father of UCU philology student Sofiia Vorobiova.
From September 2025 to the present, 26 service members, veterans, and their family members have completed open programs and online courses. Thirty participants — including veterans, active-duty personnel, and families of fallen heroes—have completed the Resilience School. Currently, 49 veterans, service members, and their relatives are enrolled in various programs at UCU Business School, with around 50 veterans and active-duty personnel among its alumni.
We do not only educate individual leaders — we also strengthen the capacity of organizations contributing to Ukraine’s defense. In partnership with the Come Back Alive Foundation, staff members undergo training in the School’s management programs, enabling them to optimize internal processes, improve fundraising effectiveness, and implement modern management practices. In 2025 alone, five team members completed training, bringing the total to 18 since the partnership began.
The results of UCU Business School and the university as a whole in 2025 reflect a comprehensive approach to supporting the veteran community. Internal capacity building is also a priority: the course Veteran in the Community helps university staff better understand the needs of returning service members.
Shaping the Future of the Country
The initiatives of UCU Business School aim to create lasting social and economic impact by supporting existing veteran-led businesses, fostering the creation of new ones, and promoting veteran entrepreneurship as a competitive advantage.
For veterans, this is not just about gaining knowledge—it is an opportunity to become part of an influential business community, scale their ventures, and apply their military experience to managing their own organizations. For businesses, it offers a deeper understanding of how to engage effectively with veterans and strengthen the value of their experience in the labor market.
Ultimately, by combining the efforts of education, business, and the civic sector, a new paradigm of collaboration is emerging—one that strengthens Ukraine’s economic resilience and ensures a dignified future for its defenders.
