St Petersburg University and the Kruzhok Movement (the National Technology Initiative) sign a cooperation agreement
St Petersburg University and the Association of Technology Kruzhoks (the National Technology Initiative Kruzhok Movement) have signed a cooperation agreement. The document was signed by Aleksandr Babich, Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Admissions at St Petersburg University, and Aleksei Fedoseev, President of the Association.
As part of the agreement, there are plans to organise and hold joint events aimed at popularising student project and research activities: conferences, and project and research competitions. Additionally, there are plans to: develop and implement joint academic programmes for tutors and teachers; organise internships in projects of the Kruzhok Movement (the National Technology Initiative) for the students of St Petersburg University; conduct joint research on improving the quality of modern education in modern technology and promising scientific areas; and much more.
The agreement will enable St Petersburg University and the Kruzhok Movement (the National Technology Initiative) to develop the research potential of school students in the most promising and in-demand academic areas and technological entrepreneurships.
Aleksandr Babich, Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Admissions at St Petersburg University
‘Joint projects will help us not only share experience, but also enhance each other's advantages, implement joint academic programmes and keep up with the time. This is because modern technology is rapidly developing and changing science, moving it forward,’ said Aleksandr Babich, Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Admissions at St Petersburg University.
The agreement was signed at the closing ceremony of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference ‘The University Gymnasium’. It was attended by more than 200 8th-10th grade students from different regions of the Russian Federation.
This year, the 31st All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference ‘The University Gymnasium’ is held under the grant that is provided to the University by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. The aim of the grant is to develop specialised educational scientific centre for initial training of highly qualified personnel for innovative development of Russia (the Faddeev Academic Gymnasium of St Petersburg University) as part of the federal project ’Development of Scientific and Production Co-operation’ of the national project ‘Science’. The co-organisers were the Kruzhok Movement of the National Technology Initiative, the Institute of Pedagogy of St Petersburg University and the School League.
The content and structure of the conference are closely linked to the priority areas of the National Technology Initiative, which is the programme that brings together representatives of leading universities, research centres and technology entrepreneurs.
During the conference, school students from eight specialised educational and research centres and lyceums, including a team from the Faddeev Academic Gymnasium of St Petersburg University, took part in an introductory competition session on design. Together with representatives of the National Technology Initiative markets, the participants worked in four areas: ‘Nanotechnology and Novel Materials’; ‘Geoinformation Systems and Earth Remote Sensing’; ‘Programming of Flying Drones’; and ‘Bioinformatics’.
The main awards went to the following projects: ‘Creating an experimental installation on the type of a lithium-ion battery using vanadate-borate glass as an electrode’; ‘Comparison of radon levels in Moscow and St Petersburg buildings’; ‘Monitoring coal pits’; ‘St Petersburg routes’; ‘Copter for Space "Iu"’; ‘Algorithm of quadrocopter propeller group parameters calculation’; ‘Studying tryptophan metabolism in cyanobacteria’; and ‘Neural network for pneumonia diagnosis’. During the 2021/22 academic year, students will continue working on their projects and present the results at the conference in 2022.
The teams also took part in a case study tourney on technopreneurship, where they first learned about case-solving techniques and then went on to develop their own start-up projects.
St Petersburg University and the Kruzhok Movement of the National Technology Initiative launched project and research activities of schoolchildren as part of the University Gymnasium conference. The agreement consolidates and allows for a systematic continuation of the development of this work. The topics of projects and research that were chosen by the participants for the academic year show how much the technologies of the future, new market areas and technological entrepreneurship fascinate today's schoolchildren, stressed Aleksei Fedoseev, President of the Association.
Above all, we will develop and launch joint educational programmes and projects aimed at identifying and supporting technology-oriented schoolchildren and students, as well as developing work with talented young people in the regions.
Aleksei Fedoseev, President of the Association of Technology Kruzhoks
All winners and runners-up of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference received certificates, medals and valuable prizes from the organisers and partners. Congratulations and parting words to the schoolchildren were offered by: Aleksandr Babich, Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Admissions at St Petersburg University; Aleksei Fedoseev, President of the Association of Technology Kruzhoks; and Dariia Andrianova, Director of the Faddeev Academic Gymnasium of St Petersburg University.