Ural federal university: UrFU Will Improve Implementation of Innovations in Power Engineering
Modern innovative development of the energy industry is impossible without the widespread use of rapidly improving digital technologies. To ensure the industrialization of the latest advances, it is necessary to rethink the training of personnel in this industry. This was stated by the rector of the Ural Federal University Victor Koksharov at the discussion session “Innovations in Energy”, which was held in Tashkent within the framework of the industrial exhibition Innoprom.
“When training energy specialists, it is required to add new digital competencies while maintaining the fundamental educational basis,” emphasized Victor Koksharov. – Among the main directions for their formation, one can single out digital communication systems, the construction of digital twins and the use of VR technologies, machine learning. Do not forget about the development of general professional competencies, which are called soft skills. “
Today UrFU is one of the flagship universities of the state corporation “Rosatom”. UrFU Department of Nuclear Power Plants and Renewable Energy Sources has 55 years of experience in training specialists in the design, operation and installation of nuclear power plants. A number of employees of Rosenergoatom Concern JSC and Beloyarsk Nuclear Plant are part-time employees of the department. In addition, UrFU has a specialized branch at Beloyarsk Nuclear Plant.
To improve the quality of training of specialists at the university, they are actively working on the modernization of educational programs and laboratory facilities. So, since 2020, a testing laboratory of emergency control systems for power systems with a working model of a digital substation has been operating in UrFU. In addition, in order to improve the quality of vocational education in the Sverdlovsk region, a project was implemented to create an intellectual laboratory “Automated energy saving systems for enterprises”. Another significant example is the opening in March 2021 of the display class of the UrFU Department of Power Engineering. The site was created with the support of Rosseti Ural.
Training of personnel for innovative power engineering makes new demands on teachers. The experience accumulated at UrFU formed the basis for the organization and functioning of the international scientific and methodological center, the purpose of which is to develop a training program for teachers of higher educational institutions.
“Educational programs were not only developed and implemented, but also received a warm positive response from our colleagues,” noted Koksharov. – Over the past year, more than 100 teachers and graduate students of power engineering departments and institutes from universities in Novosibirsk, Magnitogorsk, Perm and St. Petersburg have been trained according to the developed programs. UrFU is actively moving towards the introduction of digital technologies in the educational process, and now we can say that our graduates have the necessary competencies to work in an innovative digital energy environment. UrFU also helps to spread educational practices among partner universities ”.
Viсtor Koksharov also told the session participants about the Russian-German Summer School – a joint project of UrFU, Berlin Technical University TU-Campus EUREF and the Technical University of Dortmund. The school was recognized as the best project of the competition “Russia and Germany: scientific and educational bridges”.
In conclusion, the head of UrFU expressed confidence that the university’s competencies will be in demand when launching and operating a nuclear power plant on Lake Tuzkan in Uzbekistan in 2028. The nuclear power plant will become the first nuclear power facility in Central Asia.