Elena Zagaynova: "Peter the Great University is close to us in spirit"
On February 17, UNN Rector Elena Zagaynova visited Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. During the visit, a number of important issues concerning the development of cooperation between the two leading universities were discussed. In particular, at a meeting with Alexey Borovkov, Vice Rector for Digital Transformation, the discussion focused on the experience of cooperation between Peter the Great University and major industrial partners in research and development. Professor Alexey Borovkov is one of those who proposed the idea and developed the Advanced Engineering Schools federal project, which aims to train qualified personnel for a highly productive, export-oriented sector of Russia's economy.
"Tenders for setting up such schools will be announced soon. Lobachevsky University plans to actively engage in this work, and it is important for us to understand what options and what topics of Advanced Engineering Schools are possible for us and how we can build a new format of relationships with existing industrial partners within this activity, as well as find new ones," said Elena Zagaynova.
During the meeting, they also discussed how to organise work on National Technology Initiative (NTI) projects. "Peter the Great University was one of the first in Russia to receive an NTI project, and we are also going to apply for such a project. Therefore, it was important for us to learn about the experience of our colleagues from St. Petersburg in this area," the UNN Rector pointed out.
Elena Zagaynova also noted St. Petersburg colleagues’ interesting approach towards development of additional professional education: "For example, based of engineering competencies, they organize special courses for professionals, representatives of large industrial companies, such as Rosatom, providing applied knowledge, synthesis of engineering and management competencies to solve specific professional tasks, in particular for working at nuclear power plants".
In the course of their meeting, Elena Zagaynova and the Rector of Peter the Great University, RAS academician Andrey Rudsky discussed cooperation in campus development, supercomputing technologies and a number of other areas of mutual interest.
"This university is close to us in spirit. We will cooperate on engineering schools, NTI projects, and educational projects, where the experience of our colleagues from St Petersburg is very valuable for us. In turn, they are interested in UNN as one of the leading universities in the field of biomedicine, and we can share our unique experience in this field, " Elena Zagaynova summed up.
