Siberian Federal University: The SibFU Engineer Training Model — the Best in Russia

A model for training engineers at Siberian Federal University has been recognized as the most successful educational practice in Russia based on the results of the 2021–2022 academic year. The model of systemic changes in multilevel engineering education was implemented within the framework of the federal innovation platform (FIP) and can now be scaled both at SibFU and atother universities of Russia.

SibFU began the introduction of new approaches to the training of engineers from school to Master’s degree in 2017, when the university received the status of an innovative federal site in engineering. The fundamental things became formation of a team of lecturers, the applied nature of training and network partnerships.

So, students receive education in laboratories, working on engineering tasks and projects, including STEM and study the specially developed integrated courses Solution of Technical Cases, Project Management, SystemsEngineering, Engineering Ethics, Information Services and so on.

In order to form a contingent of applicants for innovative educational engineering programs, the university built partnerships with schools and concluded network agreements with enterprises that provide students with cases from real practice. To train lecturers for new engineering education, Technology and Engineering Teacher (TET), a modular retraining program, has been developed and is being implemented, preparing for a radical update of teaching methods and technologies and the regulatory framework. The best practices of engineering education are broadcast in the new Engineering Education network educational master’s program.

Experts of Financial Expert Systems LLC and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia evaluated the work of 141 federal innovation platforms, organized, among other things, on the basis of such universities as Stankin Moscow State Technical University, Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics, Tomsk Politechnic University, Baltic Federal University, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, etc. The experts reviewed the educational programs of the Polytechnic School and the School of Nonferrous Metals and Materials Science: Mechanical Engineering, CDIO Metallurgy, Engineering Education and others, as well as new pre-university education programs of the Minor Engineering Academy.

“The goal of SibFU’s FIP is to modernize engineering education and prepare graduates who are in demand by professional reality. The ecosystem of the new engineering education is presented in the form of a model. Real practice in educational programs takes place through a new curriculum with the addition of learning outcomes, integrated courses, and student project activities from the first day to the degree project and much more. The model provides training with new formats of teaching materials. The effectiveness of the model is achieved by the openness of educational programs through network partnerships with universities, secondary schools, industrial enterprises and business structures and internal expert monitoring,” — said Natalia Gafurova, head of the SibFU Development Projects Implementation Department.