SPbPU: Polytechnic Opens Unified Center to Support International Students
It is especially lively today in the international campus of Polytechnic University, at #30 Grazhdansky Ave. Rector of SPbPU, Academician of the RAS Andrei Rudskoi in the presence of distinguished guests and international students inaugurated the Unified center for international students (UCFIS).
The opening of the multifunctional center for migration control, registration and visa issues, dormitory accommodation and medical insurance will significantly improve the service and quality of work with the foreign contingent of SPbPU, from entrants to scientific and pedagogical staff, and will make a weighty contribution to the further development of a modern comfortable environment on the University campus.
The university management is improving the infrastructure, making our university more and more attractive for foreign applicants, as this is one of the strategic objectives of international activities.
The International Office under the leadership of Vice-Rector Dmitry Arseniev constantly improves the system of recruitment, admission and service of foreign citizens in the process of their enrollment and study at the University.
Only for the past year the passport and visa department processed about 25 thousand electronic and telephone appeals, 7 thousand personal visits of foreign citizens. The employees of the Passport and Visa Department prepared 12 thousand documents for migration registration and issued 6.5 thousand multiple-entry visas. 22 thousand documents were entered into the database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. To optimize such a volume of work, the idea of creating a Unified center for international students was born a few years ago.
«We have done a tremendous job, creating a modern, convenient multifunctional cluster on the campus of our university. The implementation of such a grand and large-scale project will ensure the integration of university departments and services for foreign students, graduate students and scientific and pedagogical staff. In line with the goal of increasing the number of international students to 500 thousand set by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, this will significantly increase the number of talented young people from friendly countries interested in studying at SPbPU,» said Rector Andrei Rudskoi at the opening of the Center.
The implementation of such a large infrastructural project is the result of the combined work of the International Office, campus, technical departments and the Department of Repair and Technical Supervision. In order to create the UCFIS on the basis of Dormitory No. 13, a global redevelopment of more than 500 square meters was carried out: 9 offices, 25 workstations, 6 reception windows of MFC format, reception area, electronic queue, medical insurance point were equipped.
The UCFIS is tasked with prompt and comprehensive registration of foreign citizens in accordance with all requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation, as well as the preparation of intra-university documentation on applicants, students, postgraduates, foreign teachers and delegations. The project corresponds to the objectives of the University’s sustainable development and is aimed at increasing the internationalization of SPbPU.
«Today, coming to Polytechnic University, a foreign entrant only needs to come to the UCFIS. In the one-stop center they will be able to register, get a visa, get on the migration control, go through the process of settling in the dormitories and issuance of a medical insurance policy,» Dmitry Arseniev, vice-rector for international affairs of SPbPU, told us. «Comfortable and modern waiting room, electronic queue, multi-lingual navigation. We have traveled the entire route that applicants will take, and we have seen how well the UCFIS has worked.»
Students from foreign countries will be able to evaluate the work of the UCFIS already now, the admission campaign for foreign applicants is in full swing.
«It will become very convenient for all foreign students to process different documents. We will get used to studying and living in Russia faster. This is very important. As promised by the Rector at the five-year anniversary of the Interclub, the project of creating the UCFIS has been successfully realized and today we are present at its opening,» thanked on behalf of all international students the management of SPbPU, the Chairman of the Student Council of Dormitory No. 13 and representative of the Council of Association of Fellow-Countrymen Teguh Imanullah.
