The meeting incorporating key figures – Vitaly Voytik, Adviser on Trade and Economic Issues, Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in Yekaterinburg, and Dr. Dmitry Krasilnikov, Acting Rector, Perm State University (PSU) aimed to promote cooperation of PSU with scientific and industrial organizations from Belarus. It has been stated, that education will become one of priorities for such interaction in the future.
According to Vitaly Voytik, the Republic of Belarus lays special emphasis on cooperation with the Perm Territory, since the official signing of the cooperation agreement in 2016. Since that time, the trade turnover between Belarus and Perm territories raised up to $ 500,000,000.
Dr. Alexander Maksimov, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, PSU, reported about the opportunities of cooperation, like developing new technologies for processing agricultural waste into fertilizers. Dr. Elena Khairullina, Director, Natural Science Institute, PSU presented the results of cooperation alike within ecology, using universities and enterprises as actors. PSU provides help with environmental sustainability at all stages of production, from project support to waste disposal.
“The Republic of Belarus is becoming an important partner of the Perm Territory. This opens up wide opportunities for both PSU and Belarusian enterprises. The University acts as a key member of the Perm Scientific and Educational Center “Rational Subsoil Use”, as well as the Photonics Competence Center, creating an extensive scientific and industrial base for international cooperation. As the IT sphere is extensively developed in Belarus and Perm, the interaction of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, PSU with Belarusian colleagues offers new prospects in artificial intelligence research,”
comments Dr. Dmitry Krasilnikov, Acting Rector, PSU.
As for possible technical solutions by PSU, Vitaly Voytik expressed interest in ecology and agriculture. About 40% of global potash salts are being produced in Belarus and Russia, and so does bring their industries closer. Vitaliy Voytik talked about the prospects of processing potash production wastes. Following the meeting, all the mentioned initiatives will be addressed to the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus.
Perm State University team has joined a consortium of scholars from Russia and abroad – discussing the new ARTEST project, aiming at implementation of digital methods of research and teaching within humanities. The partner universities from Russia, Germany, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Mongolia shared their positive experience in the field, as well as discussed possible tasks to perform.
In 2020, the ARTEST project became a grant winner of the EU international program Erasmus+. The main goal of the project is to rethink education in art and heritage and humanities in Russia and Mongolia, incorporating European standards and research practices in the field. The ARTEST program intends to create a new master’s program, run by the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology, PSU.
“Our first meeting has demonstrated the willingness of partners to start the project. Albeit online, we managed to get to know the project teams and learn about their activities in digital humanities – serving a basis for creating an interdisciplinary master’s program. We are glad to start the project with such a positive “go” signal,”
says Natalya Dobrynina, Head of Department of Network Programs and Educational Projects, PSU.
PSU will serve the goal of re-translating its experience in to Asian partners from Tuva and Mongolia, while being a recipient of the knowledge the University learnt from European partners. Faculty of History and Political Science, Faculty of Philology, and the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology, PSU will also take part. The consortium is coordinated by the University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln, Germany).
What is innovation? What skills should an engineer in innovations possess? Dr. Klimenty Levkov, Tel Aviv University (Israel) delivered a series of online lectures on innovative engineering for graduate students of the Department of Information Technology, PSU. This is one of the first courses of the kind, taught in Russia.
While studying the course, students were introduced into technical systems’ life cycle, and the innovative stage, in particular. They also acquired new competencies required from an innovative engineer to successfully perform his/her duties.
“Here, Doctor Levkov has stated the basic principles of creating innovative projects – aimed not only at young innovators, but also members of various competition juries, evaluating innovative projects. So, we hope that cooperation between the departments of Tel Aviv University and Perm State University will grow further,”
says Professor Oleg Pensky, Department of Information Technologies, PSU.
At his lectures, Dr. Klimenty Levkov spoke about the basic principles of innovative engineering, the process of training and self-preparation, as well as discussed the structural and functional synthesis of specific devices. He also considered the basic principles, the theory of inventive tasks has do deal with.
“The course content has been completely new to me. There is recently a lot of talk about innovations, yet, for the first time I learned about the whole science behind it, incorporating dialectics and its laws, among many,”
comments Anzhelika Rudakova, graduate student, Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics PSU.
In 2021, Perm State University (PSU) has demonstrated a solid stable position in the Times Higher Education (THE, UK) Emerging Economies Rankings, saving its place in the 500+ group. A total of 48 Russian universities were included in the top list. According to the recent ranking, via year PSU has raised the score in Teaching (from 18,1 to 19,2 points). Other leading scores include Industry Income (38,8) and International Outlook (16,7), with a growth in Research (9,9).
“Perm State University has been in this ranking for four years in a row. Considering that in 2021 the number of competitive universities increased to 606, maintaining previous positions requires efforts from all the participants, increasing performance,”
states Dmitry Krasilnikov, Acting Rector, PSU.
Initially, PSU appeared in THE Ranking in 2017. In 2020, it improved performance in several areas: teaching quality, research activities, and contribution to innovation. In total, to compile the rating, THE experts take into account thirteen indicators. In addition, PSU is known to show progress in Physical Sciences, as well as a separate THE ranking assessing sustainable development goals by the United Nations (UN).
Times Higher Education (THE), formerly The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) is a weekly magazine based in London, reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. It is the United Kingdom’s leading publication in its field. The ranking place is compiled on the basis of data from three sources: statistical information from universities, a bibliometric database of Scopus and a survey of academic experts.
Perm State University has performed as an open platform for the All-Russian action “Tolles Diktat ‘2021”. Traditionally, the dictation in German marks the International Mother Language Day, celebrated on 21 February. The dictation was conducted by the Department of Linguodidactics, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature, PSU.
In 2021, the participants on our site outnumbered 25 people – school children and college students of the 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th grades, coming from those Perm schools our Faculty cooperates with. The quality of students’ works has improved, too; they made fewer mistakes compared to 2020.
“The dictation results testify for modern trends of the language space – the desire of our children to live in a multicultural and multilingual world,”
notes Ekaterina Kupriyanicheva, teacher of the Department of Linguodidactics, Head of the Innovative Pedagogical Resources Office, PSU.
The original dictation texts were read by Katrin Köpke, Associate Professor at the Department of Linguodidactics, a native speaker from Germany. So, the participants had a unique opportunity to hear the live German speech.
“This year, I was especially pleased to see new participants studying German as the second foreign language – besides those, who had chosen it as a primary one. This speaks of the interest of modern youth in learning several foreign languages. That for sure opens new horizons and expands boundaries of their opportunities,”
Looking for scholarships? Eager to participate summer schools? Interested in European culture, yet appreciating its origins? Try Hungary!
Perm State University International Relations Department reminds: the University of Pécs (Pécsi Tudományegyetem) welcomes applications for the Cultural Heritage of Hungary summer school, the scholarship competition to be on a competitive basis. Applications are due to 11 March 2021. The Summer School will be held offline from 4 to 18 July.
Based on the financial support of the Hungarian Government, Tempus Public Foundation offers the scholarship for foreign higher education students, graduates and professionals who would like to gain further knowledge in Hungarian summer university courses. Scholarship programs include Hungarian as a foreign language, Hungarology and thematic (nonlinguistic) courses, and are aimed at foreign (non-native Hungarian speaker) participants.
The Cultural Heritage of Hungary School at the University of Pécs aims to introduce the Hungarian cultural heritage from many different perspectives. This summer program will help you gain insight into Hungary’s gastronomy, wine culture, history, religion and folk traditions, and political, economic and social challenges. Team building intercultural sessions will also be part of this program with professional lecturers and guided tours in Pécs.
The language of instruction is English.
The scholarship covers tuition, meals, accommodation and program activities. Applicants must provide the following documents:
Certificate of knowledge of English and/or Hungarian;
Letter of recommendation from a teacher or university.
The language of the documents can be Hungarian, English, French or German. If they are not written in either of these four languages, their official Hungarian or English translations must also be attached.
The documents should be submitted through the online system. The deadline is Thursday, 11 March 2021, 11 pm CET
On 26 February, Pavel Mikheev, a researcher and teacher at Perm State University, delivered a lecture for the largest polytechnic university in Canada – the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
The Lecture titled “Fisheries Research of Aquatic Biological Resources of Amur River” had been delivered in English to the students in Fish, Wildlife and Recreation, and contributed to international cooperation in fisheries science.
The choice of topic and audience was not accidental, as the economy of British Columbia relies primarily on natural resources. Serving a hub point and premise for largest ports in the Nothern Pacific, the place acquires international trade in most ways. The seas and rivers of British Columbia are home to many large populations of fishery-valuable species, salmon and sturgeon, in particular.
The lecture by Pavel Mikheev regarded the biodiversity of the Amur River fish fauna. The Amur River being the fourth longest river in Russia, and tenth largest river in the world, shares its catchment area with China and Mongolia. Fisheries at the Amur River are a great contribution to the local economy.
“Located at the connection of various biogeographic zones, the Amur basin possesses a unique terrestrial and aquatic biota,” comments Pavel Mikheev. “The river ichthyofauna includes about 130 species and subspecies of fish. Among them are boreal ones, such as coregonids and salmonids, as well as species of Chinese and Indian origin”.
Pavel Mikheev presented the key aspects of fishery research of freshwater fish stocks inhabiting the main channel and tributaries of the Amur River, as well as Pacific salmon spawning in the river basin. The lecturer addressed the specific character of fisheries, related to that. An emphasis was done on methods used to estimate the stocks and forecast the volume of catch. Also, Pavel Mikheev spoke on measures taken to preserve and restore the fish abundance, such as environmental monitoring and ecosystem observations.
As a response, the lecture aroused positive feedback both among students and Canadian experts in biodiversity, ecology, and fisheries management in the Pacific Northern Hemisphere.
A record number of applications for summer internships at Perm State University came from Oxford students in 2021: 103 applications for 10 places. The youngest program – “Museums and Archeology”, complimented by applications in “Cultural Diversity: Russian Experience” has received an unprecedented amount of applications since the Program existence: 45 candidates for 2 placements. The competition for 1 placement in physics and biology ranges from 5 to 10 people.
The fact of submitting applications to PSU summer schools ’21 speaks of the optimism among our Oxford partners, taking the situation with COVID-19 into account. In case of a positive scenario, Perm State University is going to offer Oxford interns an off-line practice in microbiology and immunology, introducing them to the biodiversity and ecosystem of the Urals, conducting research on nanoparticles and fluid dynamics. The Faculty of History and Politics, PSU has prepared archaeological practice and seminars on comparative cultural studies. The Museum of Perm University History will provide access to its antique collections, including coins and ceramics, as well as rare books.
“To the mutual regret, a break was made in the summer schools of 2020. Still, it did not stop Oxford students from sending us new applications, for the year 2021. The applicants’ list has been almost completely renewed. As we received re-entries from several finalists from the last year, we nevertheless decided to not automatically confirm their participation, but rather but rewarded them with a bonus point. This seems to be important in terms of procedure transparency, taking the high application score into account,”
comments Vadim N. Gataulin, Head of International Relations Department, PSU.
During the 6-week internship, undergraduate students are provided with access to research facilities and lab equipment, accompanied by assistance by practicing experts – an opportunity mostly graduate students enjoy in the UK. Accordingly, PSU chooses the most able applicants for competition. “The summer schools help international students to experience the potential of Russian science, see the prospects of future international collaborations, proceed with personal academic interests and build career upon returning home,” explains Vadim N. Gataulin.
Annually, as Oxford University publishes interns’ reviews in the form of a newsletter, Perm State University receives plentiful of comments on its program going beyond campus – like studying rare plants and animal species, river rafting and exploration of the Urals’ reserves. PSU is also known to offer Oxford interns Russian language classes, introducing them into the city and helping with everyday issues.
“The majority of my time was spent attributing the ancient coin collection of the university museum. I was responsible for checking the existing records and correcting the errors, as well as researching the exhibits for which there was no information. It allowed me to study numerous Roman coins and therefore complimented my degree. Also, I was involved in creating 3D models of some of the museums’ exhibitions, learning to use 3D modelling software,”
Ben Wolstenholme, St Anne’s College, recollects.
To remind, in 2019, the University of Oxford awarded Perm State National Research University with the Gold Standard Internship Host. Since 2012, Perm University has been providing summer educational visits for Oxford students, competing with leading universities in Russia and the world in terms of the quality of their conduct. To qualify for the Gold Standard Mark, a university must meet a variety of criteria, including student feedback, quality of study programs, overall duration and diversity.
“The Department of International Relations at PSU has been coordinating the internship program since 2012. During this period, 162 students from Oxford took participated summer schools on 6 University faculties. We are deeply convinced that academic success is closely related to personal adaptation, especially for students from abroad. It is important for us that the guys feel at home,” says Mikhail V. Grabevnik, Head of Academic Mobility Office, PSU. “Summer schools are a great chance to discover the new country. In addition to a variety of cultural events, including theatre plays, art exhibitions, sport matches, our interns get a unique life experience: from living in a dormitory to workshops in national cuisine.”
In 2018, Perm State University and the University of Oxford signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a new 10-year period. “Thanks to cooperation between our universities, a twinning relationship has been established between Oxford and Perm. Together with our Oxford colleagues, we have implemented a series of successful projects, including an annual seminar on contemporary British literature and the Victorian Center established at the University of Perm,” stressed PSU officials at the signing the agreement.
To participate in the Program, a candidate must prepare two sets of documents – for the Slovak and the Russian bodies.
The documents for the Slovak body include the following documents (originals + copy in Slovak or English):
Application forms (originals, 2 copies);
CV;
Motivation letter;
Plan for study or research activity;
Letter of invitation from a Slovak university (when possible);
Letters of recommendation;
Academic transcript / copy of a record book or diploma certificate;
List of publications relevant of candidate’s scientific/research activity;
Photos for the application forms.
For the Russian side, it is necessary to provide a letter of representation from the sending university (PSU, in this case), a curriculum vitae, a certificate of knowledge of the Slovak or English language (in Russian), and the first page of the passport.
Information about the program in English and Slovak languages, application form and a list of documents for the Slovak bodies may be found on the official website of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic. More detailed information on filling out the documents is posted on the website of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
The documents for the Russian and Slovak bodies must be sent via e-mail to poleshuk@list.ru. The Documents will be accepted by 4.00pm on 10 March, 2021. Contact person: Olga Poleshchuk, tel.: 8-495-788-65-91, e-mail: poleshuk@list.ru.
For additional questions on preparing documents on behalf of Perm State University, please contact the Division of International Academic Mobility, PSU International Department: academic_mobility@psu.ru or international@psu.ru.
Which tasks and challenges do science, education and society have to deal with in the face of globalization? How do we eliminate threats and manage risks? From 18 October till 23 November, 2021, PSU will host the autumn session of the Perm International Forum “Science and Global Challenges of the 21st Century” – in search of these and many more answers.
“The main advantage of the Forum is its cross-disciplinary character, enabling the joint research and overcoming obstacles between scientists – the principle incorporated since its very start. Back in the days, the first Forum launched with a round table on the origin of the Universe – inviting philosophers and theologists to take part along with mathematicians,”
comments Andrey Kuznetsov, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, PSU.
The Forum program feature events of various scale: international conferences and lectures, scientific and research schools, pop-sci talks. In 2021, young scientists are to discuss artificial intelligence, development of natural processes, bioinformatics, innovation and technology.
“Another feature of the Forum is that articles meeting the Springer Proceedings Guidelines for Authors, will be published in its “Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies” series, as well as submitted for indexing in Scopus. The articles in English must be submitted by 1 June, 2021”,
reminds Andrey Kuznetsov.
The full Forum program and additional information can be found on official Forum website. For further questions about the program, please contact Alexander Shkaraputa at shkaraputa@psu.ru. For the Springer Publishing Project, please contact Natalya Petrova at nap@psu.ru. Feel free to address your questions in English to Ekaterina Isaeva at ekaterinaisae@gmail.com.
Held in 2016 for the first time, on the Centennial of Perm State University, the Forum united thousands of participants attending symposia, conferences, exhibitions, workshops, round tables, seminars, open lectures – both formal and informal, online and live, including digital art exhibitions and championships in robotics.
