SPbPU and MAI Launch Joint Winter School Program

The joint winter school of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and Moscow Aviation Institute opened today.

This is the second common project of the international school of two leading technical universities. This year the participants — Chinese students of the North-West Polytechnic University will be trained on the «Polymer composites and additive technologies» program.

At the opening ceremony the participants and organizers were welcomed by Andrey Rudskoy, Rector of SPbPU, Academician of the RAS, and Mikhail Pogosyan, Rector of MAI, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Russia and China are strategic partners, which has been repeatedly stated by the leaders of our countries at the highest state level. Polytechnic University, like our colleagues from MAI, actively cooperates with leading universities and scientific organizations in China. In 2016, Polytechnic University opened its representative office in China in the city of Shanghai, which by the way was visited by the esteemed rector of MAI Mikhail Pogosyan. Thanks to the work of the representative office, the number of Chinese students has increased, the number of our partners has significantly expanded, including signed agreements with the Shanghai Academy of Sciences and scientific centers of the PRC, said Rector of SPbPU, Andrei Rudskoi. I am especially pleased that today you have an opportunity to come to this school and get acquainted with Moscow and St. Petersburg, with unique technologies and developments of 2 leading Russian universities — MAI and SPbPU.

The first week of training started at MAI, where Chinese students will learn in detail about the main types of binders Pogosyan and fillers used in composite materials, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. The program of the first module will be full of interactive classes, laboratory workshops and visit to the real production, where aircraft structures from PCM are manufactured.

The theme of the winter school program is the areas that will determine the competitiveness of the Russian and Chinese aviation industry in the global market, Mikhail stressed. Cooperation between our countries is of a long-term strategic nature. The development of aircraft construction and space technologies is one of the priorities of our cooperation, as MAI closely cooperates with the Chinese aviation industry in the framework of joint projects.

In the second part of the program, on the basis of our University, students will get acquainted with additive manufacturing, which is increasingly used in a variety of industries, including the technology of electric arc growth of metal parts from wire. This module will include a course on the production methods and characteristics of powder materials.

The organizers have also prepared a rich cultural program for the students, including a sightseeing tour of Moscow, backstage tours of the Bolshoi Theater, the VDNKh and the Museum of Cosmonautics, a visit to the State Hermitage Museum, the Erarta Museum of Modern Art and a trip to Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo).

We hope that such practice of joint schools will expand, and next time we will organize the program in the summer, in one of the most beautiful seasons in St. Petersburg, during the white nights. And the geography of participants of international schools will expand, especially since there are all the opportunities for this,Andrei Rudskoi greeted the students.

Ilya Konstantinov, Senior Lecturer of Department 101 «Design and Certification of Aircraft», Head of International Educational Projects of MAI, noted, Modern engineering problems require a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach. By combining the efforts of two leading scientific organizations of MAI and SPbPU we managed to create a really interesting educational product covering a wide range of issues of modern materials science. In the process of training students will understand the basic technologies of design and production of products from polymer composite materials and products made by additive manufacturing technologies.

Anton Naumov, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Higher School of Physics and Materials Technology, Leading Researcher of the Laboratory of Lightweight Materials and Structures, thanked the participants for their interest in the course of the winter school: Our program is a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the advanced developments of two strong scientific schools in the field of aircraft construction and materials science in a short period of time.

The program of the Joint Winter School of SPbPU and MAI is not just a training course — it is a key to the future in engineering, materials science, design and other related fields. Students will gain valuable experience and knowledge that will become their competitive advantage.