A student who fled war-torn Ukraine almost 10 years ago is set to graduate from Abertay University.
Nick Nesterenko, who is originally from Donetsk, will graduate with a degree in ethical hacking on Friday.
The 21-year-old’s graduation will be the culmination of an almost decade-long journey which started when his family was displaced in the aftermath of the 2014 coup.
Escaping the city on one of the last flights out of Donetsk airport before it was destroyed, Nick and his family eventually settled in the Middle East.
It was here the teenager first learned English, setting him on the path to Dundee.
‘I only knew how to order an orange juice’
He said: “I enrolled in an international school when I was in the Middle East and I knew no English really, I only knew how to order an orange juice.
“But with the help of Google translate, I eventually began to learn.
“Then when I was in year ten I started looking at universities to see what I wanted to study.
“I was a big fan of computers from childhood – I got my first Gameboy when I was three and that’s where it started.
“I was also doing well in the GCSE’s at the school so I wanted to continue with the British education.”
He added: “I did my research and found that cyber security is one of the hardest disciplines in computing and I wanted a challenge.
“I then found out Abertay does ethical hacking which, first of all sounds cool, and they were the first in the world to offer this degree.
“They invented it so they must be the best and that’s why I started aiming to get a place into the university.”
Nick eventually began studying in Dundee in 2019, having never been to the UK prior to arriving in the city.
He said: “It was a complete culture shock. Scotland is so different to Ukraine – the people, the language, even just the general vibe.
“I felt completely out of my comfort zone in the beginning but kept reminding myself of why I was here.
“I came to this country to study and everything I’ve done here has been based around the university.
“I’ve made a lot of friends here at Abertay, including the staff.”
War happening ‘almost half my life’
Asked if it had been difficult to focus on his studies whilst war rages in his homeland, Nick admitted the conflict had become a sad reality for all Ukrainians.
He said: “My grandparents live in Donetsk and they are getting bombarded almost daily.
“They have a country house with a big yard and they regularly get bombs (falling) there.”
“But for me it started in 2014 so it’s been years. That’s almost 50% of my life and people can get used to anything.”
Following last year’s invasion by Russia, Abertay was among those opening its doors to young people fleeing the conflict.
And with around 30 students arriving in September 2022, Abertay asked Nick if he could help settle them in to their new surroundings.
He said: “I created a channel on (social media app) Telegram because it’s the most popular social network in Ukraine right now but no one uses it here.
“It was essentially a means of communication to let people know what was going on and some of the university staff were on there as well.”
Nick is currently undertaking an internship with the security engineering department at Lloyds Banking Group in Edinburgh and hopes to be accepted onto a PhD programme at Abertay after his graduation.
