Svetlana Velikanova:
“Talent is like the sun: it is distributed randomly and does not depend on family income”
Entre Expats
Svetlana Velikanova — founder and CEO of Harbour.Space University — explains why she chose to invest her own money not in real estate, but in education. Having grown up in a poor family in Mariupol, she built a career in international banking and later founded a new kind of university: flexible, international, accessible, and practice-oriented. In the Entre Expats podcast, we talk with Svetlana about how new educational models are born, why it’s worth rescuing talent from places like Syria, and why entrepreneurship in education is as challenging as launching a startup.
Beginning
We already had the concept of the university, but we didn’t have a place to open it. “By chance, I ran into a friend from my banking days on the street in Barcelona — she’s from China. She told me, ‘I just bought the port here.’ I replied, ‘Can you imagine, my university’s name is Port.’ She said, ‘No way.’ I asked her, ‘Is there a spot for us?’ She said, ‘Of course.’ That’s how we ended up in the most modern port of Barcelona — Port Vell. For the first few years, our campus was located right on the water, in a yacht hangar over 75 meters long. That’s when I truly believed that a name is a powerful thing.”
Your own university — cheaper
Initially, I wanted to do charity work — using the money I earned during my banking career. To help talented students who are motivated but don’t have the financial means to study abroad. Those who were “lucky” enough to be born into poverty. For example, in Cuba, where there is now almost no electricity and internet prices have increased 15 times, or in Syria. We formed teams for them in math, programming, and robotics, and in the end, we managed to get them all out.
At first, I estimated that sending such children to Ivy League universities would cost about half a million euros per student. That covers the full cycle: preparation and four years of undergraduate study. So, my charitable funds would have been enough to educate 10 people.
Then I realized: it’s cheaper to open my own university. I just did the math — and it turned out that for the same amount of money, we could educate not ten, but hundreds of students. Now, about a thousand students have already completed their studies with us.
At first, I estimated that sending such children to Ivy League universities would cost about half a million euros per student. That covers the full cycle: preparation and four years of undergraduate study. So, my charitable funds would have been enough to educate 10 people.
Then I realized: it’s cheaper to open my own university. I just did the math — and it turned out that for the same amount of money, we could educate not ten, but hundreds of students. Now, about a thousand students have already completed their studies with us.
Symbiosis with startups
For one student to complete a three-year cycle — including education, accommodation, and adaptation — at Harbour.Space, it costs at least 75,000 euros. This is before they can stand on their own feet and support themselves.
How do we achieve this? By building partnerships with companies. Mostly startups that have just raised investments and are looking for talent. They need strong candidates — people with potential whom the market hasn’t yet recognized or overvalued. These are “future geniuses.”
Plus, these companies don’t have to pay as much as they would on the open market. The key is to pay enough for the student to live on. On our side, we provide a scholarship for tuition. And if a company is also willing to believe in the student — just as we do — we offer a partnership scheme: we pay 50% of the tuition cost, and the company pays the other 50%. This way, we share the cost so the student can come, study, and start working.
The student can work legally — under Spanish law, foreign students are allowed to work up to six hours a day. Our students do work in their field — mostly engineers, programmers, and those who already have strong skills in math or coding when they start.
We are open to everyone. Any young person can join us. The most important things are motivation and ability.
How do we achieve this? By building partnerships with companies. Mostly startups that have just raised investments and are looking for talent. They need strong candidates — people with potential whom the market hasn’t yet recognized or overvalued. These are “future geniuses.”
Plus, these companies don’t have to pay as much as they would on the open market. The key is to pay enough for the student to live on. On our side, we provide a scholarship for tuition. And if a company is also willing to believe in the student — just as we do — we offer a partnership scheme: we pay 50% of the tuition cost, and the company pays the other 50%. This way, we share the cost so the student can come, study, and start working.
The student can work legally — under Spanish law, foreign students are allowed to work up to six hours a day. Our students do work in their field — mostly engineers, programmers, and those who already have strong skills in math or coding when they start.
We are open to everyone. Any young person can join us. The most important things are motivation and ability.
The task that only 19 children solved
I coached the Spanish junior programming team. We searched for children all across the country — among 47 million people — and found only 19 who could solve the simplest algorithmic problem. Honestly, I see this as a systemic issue in the country’s education.
But as soon as we started serious training, results came quickly. The kids from that very team began winning. The entire team returned with medals — the first time in Spain’s history. And last year, our team won the ICPC World Programming Championship — the most prestigious university-level competition. Only the best participate. Among the four gold medalists was Harbour.Space. We even beat the Americans, whose budgets are in the billions. It took MIT 25 years to win; it took us only 10.
But as soon as we started serious training, results came quickly. The kids from that very team began winning. The entire team returned with medals — the first time in Spain’s history. And last year, our team won the ICPC World Programming Championship — the most prestigious university-level competition. Only the best participate. Among the four gold medalists was Harbour.Space. We even beat the Americans, whose budgets are in the billions. It took MIT 25 years to win; it took us only 10.
In Bangkok, there is both sunshine and talent
The university has a branch in Bangkok. There, the market is different, and the social structure is different. Imagine: a country with a population of 80 million people, yet about 50 families own almost everything. The rest live without resources and without access to opportunities. But talent exists there too.
Because talent is like the sun: it is distributed randomly and does not depend on family income. We started working with these young people, and after just four months with zero English, they are studying with us in English. Plus, we involved employers — 30 of Thailand’s largest companies joined forces with us to open Harbour.Space as an experimental model of higher education.
The key question in education is: who pays for it? Finding a sustainable model where the market itself is interested in paying for the training of such specialists — honestly, that deserves a Nobel Prize. I hope my team and I will earn it someday.
Because talent is like the sun: it is distributed randomly and does not depend on family income. We started working with these young people, and after just four months with zero English, they are studying with us in English. Plus, we involved employers — 30 of Thailand’s largest companies joined forces with us to open Harbour.Space as an experimental model of higher education.
The key question in education is: who pays for it? Finding a sustainable model where the market itself is interested in paying for the training of such specialists — honestly, that deserves a Nobel Prize. I hope my team and I will earn it someday.
University of the Future
The university of the future is always fresh; it is always interesting to students, teachers, and companies. It is timeless. The university of the future is the kind of university that grows stronger the more changes happen in the world — in technology, in the economy. That’s because it keeps up with and even anticipates these changes, absorbing them. Meanwhile, old structures that cannot adapt are simply left behind.
The responsibility is on us
I was born in Mariupol. My childhood was without money — I was even ashamed to admit it. I didn’t have the means to study. Maybe I went into banking to close that childhood pain. As a result, I managed to succeed, but not everyone is that lucky. That’s why the fate of geniuses scattered around the world without the opportunity to unlock their potential matters to me.
I will work on this for as long as it takes — until I find those to pass it on to. I will explain why projects like these are important. And yes, talent is distributed randomly. But the responsibility is on us.
I will work on this for as long as it takes — until I find those to pass it on to. I will explain why projects like these are important. And yes, talent is distributed randomly. But the responsibility is on us.
Svetlana Velikanova
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