SPbPU Hosts International Forum on Education Quality and Sustainable Development
SPbPU hosted the International Conference «Quality of Education and Sustainable Development — the Basis for International Cooperation» organized by the Department for Multilateral Cooperation and Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the UNESCO Chair of SPbPU.
The UNESCO Chair «Quality Management of Education for Sustainable Development» at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University was established in 2017 based on the agreement between our university and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
The meeting was moderated by Vladimir Okrepilov, Head of the UNESCO Chair of Polytechnic University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who outlined the importance, goals of the conference and issues for discussion.
In the context of the UNESCO Chair — the work of the consortium «Russian-African Network University», which Polytechnic University took the lead in 2023, fully meets the goals of sustainable development: ensuring equal access to quality education and international cooperation for sustainable development.
On the margins of the conference a session «Quality of Education and Sustainable Development: Best Practices of Network Development of the Russian-African University» was held, where RAFU participants discussed in more detail the role of the network university in training and promoting sustainable development in African countries.
The moderator of the session was Maxim Zalyvsky, Head of the RAFU Project Office, and Alla Mazina, Deputy Head of the International Education Office, acted as an expert.
The consortium of Russian-African network university is designed, first of all, to improve the quality of education, the level of training of qualified personnel in African countries. This is a priority task — there is a shortage of teaching staff in Africa. Here Russia can also act as an assistant in terms of forming these professional staff.
The participants discussed training programs and methods aimed at developing professional skills and competencies necessary for sustainable development. This includes training courses on environmental sustainability as well as entrepreneurial skills programs to encourage innovation and business development in the environmental field.
Priority research areas such as climate change adaptation, energy efficiency, natural resource management and sustainable agriculture were highlighted.