Ural federal university: University Became Part of All-Russian Project of Federal Innovation Platforms
Ural Federal University was included in the number of federal platforms that make up the innovative infrastructure in the field of higher education and the corresponding additional professional education of the country. Last week the correspondning order was published by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia.
“The key task of the innovation platform will be the introduction of practice-oriented project training in the educational programs of basic and additional education in accordance with international standards, and on the basis of close cooperation with industrial partners and employers,” says Valentina Ovchinnikova, deputy vice-rector of UrFU for project training and additional vocational education. “This will improve the quality of training in engineering and IT areas.”
This innovative educational project is aimed at developing a methodology for the design and reengineering of educational programs for bachelor’s, master’s degrees, vocational and advanced training. The programs will include modules of practice-oriented project training that meet the requirements of a set of international standards. This will allow even better implementation of interdisciplinary research and innovative projects.
The university plans to continue to develop and implement mechanisms for involving industrial partners and employers in the educational process, as well as highly qualified practitioners. Much attention will be paid to the organization of network interaction with leading Russian and foreign universities to create joint project-type educational programs.
“We also intend to continue work on attracting young people to participate in accelerators, hackathons, to introduce project-based training formats,” adds Valentina Ovchinnikova. – It is very important to scale up the methods and tools for applying project-based learning for other areas of training, including in the humanitarian sphere. And, of course, we will disseminate our experience and best practices to other universities in Russia.”
Valentina Ovchinnikova notes that UrFU has accumulated positive experience in the development and implementation of practice-oriented programs both in the field of basic and additional education. In 2019, a decision was made to massively introduce practice-oriented learning into basic educational programs.
“An important element in the formation of a new educational environment is the presence of a competitive component,” emphasizes the Deputy First Vice-Rector. “The trainee must be immersed not only in professional team activities, but must also demonstrate their achievements in the framework of various events in the form of professional competitions, organized taking into account the requirements of WorldSkills.”