SPbPU: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and the Belarusian-Russian University have drawn up a strategic partnership plan for 2022

Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and the Belarusian-Russian University (BRU) have a long and successful history of partnership. On May 5, during the visit of Natalia Volologina, Vice-rector for Academic Affairs of BRU, to Polytechnic University, a meeting with the vice-rectors and heads of institutes and higher schools of SPbPU was held, as well as a round table dedicated to inter-university cooperation and partnership.

Official talks with the vice-rector of BRU included Dmitry Arseniev, vice-rector for international affairs, Elena Razinkina, vice-rector for academic affairs, Natalia Chicherina, director of the Institute of Humanities, Alexei Grachev, acting director of the Higher School of Transport of Institute of Machinery, Materials, and Transport, representatives of the international Office and SPbPU institutes. The participants discussed the results of cooperation in 2021 and plans for 2022.

SPbPU and BRU became strategic partners in 2014 and are active in many scientific and educational areas. In particular, since 2014, Polytechnic University has been supporting (supervising) the development programs of the Slavic Universities, one of which is the Belarusian-Russian University. The partners discussed the results of the 2021 project «Implementation of a set of measures to improve the effectiveness of the Belarusian-Russian University in training professional personnel for the digital economy through the development of research programs, additional education and advanced training programs for students and young teachers» initiated by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, noting the significant results achieved in the partnership between the two universities.

Cooperation between our universities is of a strategic, comprehensive nature. A significant impetus in the development of our partnership occurred in 2021. The support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation made it possible to significantly develop scientific and educational cooperation in the most important areas — transport systems, control in technical systems, welding technologies, construction. A joint laboratory of intellectual robotics was opened, a wide range of programs of professional development and retraining was implemented, international conferences, seminars and round tables were held regularly; our students participated in mutual internship programs. We are ready for the development of new areas of joint research, exchange of best practices, expansion of contacts between our professors, young scientists and students for the mutual development for the benefit of our countries, said vice-rector for international affairs Dmitry Arseniev.

Scientific cooperation in the field of Transport Systems is implemented in partnership between the Higher School of Transport of SPbPU and BRU. As a result of joint research, a unique technology for positioning rolling stock on the railroad track has been proposed, which is related to the close integration of running rails and fiber-optic cable. The use of the proposed solution will make it possible to implement in practice a new system of interval train traffic control, called by the authors an optical auto blocking with moving block sections.

Summing up the results of the 2021 project, the meeting participants highlighted the network Laboratory of intellectual robotics and cyberphysical systems, which is integrated into the RoboLab international network model. The laboratory was created at the initiative of Vyacheslav Potekhin, director of the FESTO-Polytech international scientific and educational center, and will be used to conduct joint research, network educational programs, and educational and scientific internships.

Significant attention in 2021 was paid to the implementation of additional education programs. BRU professors attended courses on modern intelligent control systems, digital production, mechanical engineering and additive manufacturing, soft-skills development, etc. All in all, about 60 colleagues from the Belarusian-Russian University have completed the professional development programs in just one year of the project. In addition, there is an active work on joint training of postgraduate and doctoral students. To develop students’ project initiatives in the field of GameDev and student entrepreneurship, specialists from the STI Center of SPbPU held a gas pedal of students’ entrepreneurial projects at BRU.

We are glad that cooperation between our universities is still at a high level and has broad prospects for further growth. We are ready to further develop professional development programs, as well as retraining programs in the field of digital transformation. We also see great potential in the development of network bachelor’s and master’s programs, said Elena Razinkina, vice-rector for academic affairs at SPbPU.

The participants of the meeting discussed the prospects for further cooperation in environmental protection, transport, intelligent systems, and regional studies. In particular, the partners agreed to start creating a new network educational program «International Regional Studies», to continue in 2022 a series of advanced training programs for BRU students and employees in the field of digital technologies and digital transformation. In addition, the parties discussed the organization of internships for SPbPU students at BRU and internships and modular training for BRU students at Polytechnic University. Of great interest to the Belarusian colleagues was the possibility for the BRU students to participate in the Open Doors International Olympiad of the Global Universities Association, which gives the winners the opportunity to study for free at Polytechnic and other leading universities of the Russian Federation.

For her part, BRU vice-rector for academic affairs Natalia Volologina noted the effective interaction between various departments, scientific and student groups of SPbPU and the Belarusian-Russian University. Over the years of active cooperation we have built a solid foundation for further development, and we are ready for new joint initiatives and projects, the BRU vice-rector stressed.

The working program of the BRU Vice-Rector’s visit continued with the participation in the round table dedicated to the inter-university cooperation and interaction for the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies. Representatives of the Graduate School of Cyberphysical Systems and Control and the Graduate School of Transport of SPbPU participated in the discussions, and colleagues from BRU — Victor Pashkevich, vice-rector for scientific work, Sergey Bolotov, dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, employees and students of the profile departments — joined in videoconferencing. The participants of the meeting presented the results of their work in the field of the intellectual systems and digital technologies in the industry and transportation systems and agreed on specific future steps for joint activities.

As a result of these events, the BRU and SPbPU representatives agreed to update by the end of May the working plans for cooperation, project implementation and joint activities, as well as to coordinate the dates for the visit of the SPbPU delegation to BRU.