Minutes of the Rector’s Meeting

International activities 

The following events were recently held at St Petersburg University. 

Professional development courses for teachers of physics and computer science at the branch of St Petersburg University in Uzbekistan 

From 1 to 3 April, the branch of St Petersburg University in the Republic of Uzbekistan, with the support of the Ministry of Preschool and School Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan, organised in-person professional development courses for teachers of physics and computer science of the Republic of Uzbekistan. St Petersburg University specialists conducted 36 hours of lectures, training sessions and workshops for 50 teachers. 

Online lecture at the St Petersburg University Representative Office in Uzbekistan

 On 5 April, the Representative Office of St Petersburg University in the Republic of Uzbekistan hosted an online lecture on the mineralogical composition of soils in Uzbekistan. The lecture was delivered by Sofia Lesova, Professor in the Department of Physical Geography and Landscape Planning of St Petersburg University. 

Online lecture at the St Petersburg University Representative Office in Spain

On 12 March, St Petersburg University and its Representative Office in the Kingdom of Spain held the online lecture "Flowers in world literature". The lecture was delivered by Svetlana Gorbovskaia, Associate Professor in the Department of French at St Petersburg University. On 11 April, there was an online lecture focused on the life and work of Valery Bryusov. The lecture was delivered by Nina Shcherbak, Associate Professor in the Department of English Philology and Cultural Linguistics of St Petersburg University. 

The Consul General of the Republic of Uzbekistan in St Petersburg visits St Petersburg University 

On 10 April, there was a meeting between Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Abdurakhmon Makhmudov, Consul General of the Republic of Uzbekistan in St Petersburg. The parties discussed cooperation on the issues of training teachers for schools in the Republic of Uzbekistan, publishing textbooks and teaching aids, and interaction in the field of online education. 

Abdurakhmon Makhmudov donated to the University a special edition of books-albums of the series "Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan in the World’s Collections", published by the World Society for the Study, Preservation and Popularisation of the Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan. You can get acquainted with the book-albums in the reading room of the M Gorky Scientific Library at St Petersburg University.

Organisation of the teaching and learning process 

Over the past week, 28 enquiries were addressed to the Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities. The majority of enquiries relate to preparation of various documents, and transfer and reinstatement to St Petersburg University. An analysis of the information on the organisation of the teaching and learning process provided by the heads of academic and research subdivisions has been carried out. Classes are held in due order according to the timetable. As of 12 April 2024, the information was not sent by the administration of the Faculty of Law. 

Over the past week, meetings were held with student activists: group heads, and representatives of student councils and student scientific societies to name just a few. They discussed issues with organising the teaching and learning process. The meetings were held at: the Graduate School of Journalism and Mass Communication; the Graduate School of Management; the Institute of History; the Institute of Philosophy; the Institute of Chemistry; the Faculty of Foreign Languages; the Mathematics and Mechanics Faculty; the School of International Relations; the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Processes; the Faculty of Sociology; the Faculty of Philology; and the College of Physical Training and Sports, Economics and Technology.

Results of the St Petersburg University Olympiad for Schoolchildren 

This year, more than 100,000 people took part in the St Petersburg University School Olympiad. Among them are pupils from all regions of Russia and citizens of Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Jordan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Lebanon, Moldova, Mongolia, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, and South Ossetia. 

According to Aleksandr Khurshudian, Deputy Senior Vice-Rector for Youth Policy and Admissions at St Petersburg University, the St Petersburg University Olympiad for Schoolchildren was held in 23 sets of disciplines, including a new one, i.e. "Planet Earth". The St Petersburg University Olympiad for Schoolchildren is included in the List of School Olympiads in 21 sets of subjects, approved by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. This year, the most popular subject of the Olympiad was mathematics, attracting about 10,000 participants. Winners and prize-winners have special rights for admission to Russian universities, including St Petersburg University. They can be admitted without having to take entrance exams or they have 100 points in the profession-oriented subject. 

The Olympiad is aimed at developing schoolchildren’s creative abilities and interest in research activities, creating the necessary conditions to support gifted children, and disseminating and popularising scientific knowledge among young people. 

The results of the final stage of the 2023/2024 academic year were published in the section "School Olympiad" on the St Petersburg University website.

Participation of St Petersburg University teams in the Annual World Championship of the International Collegiate Programming Contest 

Two teams of mathematics students at St Petersburg University have taken part in the Annual World Championship of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC). It is a large student international team programming contest. Bachelor’s, master’s and first-year doctoral students can participate in it. 

In Luxor (Egypt), from 14 to 19 April, the final stages of the 46th and 47th world championships were held simultaneously. This happened due to the fact that during the COVID-19 pandemic the championships were not held and were postponed. Last November, the previous two championships were therefore supposed to be held in another Egyptian city, Sharm el-Sheikh. Yet ICPC-46 was postponed indefinitely due to the events in this region. 

Team Chill It, a team of the University, is competing in the 46th ICPC Annual World Championship. It qualified for the world final after winning the Northern Eurasia regional final on 13 April 2022. Urgant Team, the other team of St Petersburg University, is participating in the 47th ICPC Annual World Championship. It qualified for the world final after winning the Northern Eurasia regional final on 7 December 2022. 

Over the past three decades, the ICPC Annual World Championship has been the world’s most prestigious intellectual championship for young programmers. The championship is held under the auspices of the international Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The University student teams became champions in 2000, 2001, 2014 and 2016, receiving gold, silver and bronze medals more than once.

St Petersburg University team emerge victorious in the 2nd All-Russian Therapeutic Olympiad 

From 12 to 13 April, Tyumen hosted the 2nd All-Russian Therapeutic Olympiad. The competition took place at classrooms and the simulation centre of Tyumen State Medical University. Eleven student teams took part in the competition, six of which represented medical universities in Moscow, St Petersburg, Ryazan and Yoshkar-Ola, and five of them were from Tyumen State Medical University. Medical students demonstrated their knowledge and practical skills in internal medicine, cardiology, endocrinology and rheumatology. In the project session, the participants discussed the problem of early metabolic ageing of the body and proposed their own techniques and programmes as solutions. 

The St Petersburg University student team "People in White" won the team competition. The research supervisor of the team is Oleg Solovev, a doctoral student in the Department of Faculty Therapy and a cardiologist at the Pirogov Clinic of High Medical Technologies at St Petersburg University. The team received a first-place diploma together with the team "Fifth Element" of Mechnikov North-West State Medical University from St Petersburg. The St Petersburg University team also won the Best Clinical Thinking nomination, scoring the highest number of points in the simulation round. 

The meeting participants congratulated the medical students on winning the prestigious competition.

St Petersburg University takes part in the Moscow International Education Fair 

From 3 to 4 April in Moscow, St Petersburg University traditionally participated in the annual exhibition "Moscow International Education Fair". During the first week, about 100,000 people visited St Petersburg University’s online events. The St Petersburg University’s stand received over 5,000 visitors in person. 

At the St Petersburg University’s stand, visitors learned about modern research by the University chemists that focused on the environmentally friendly use of inorganic materials for the sustainable development of industry, beauty and medicine. A 3D cast of the skull of an ankylosaur, a herbivorous dinosaur that had appeared on Earth in the mid-Jurassic period and existed until the end of the era of dinosaurs, was presented on the levitation platform. Palaeontologists from St Petersburg University developed the most detailed three-dimensional model of the brain and blood vessels of the head of an ankylosaur and studied their structure in detail. 

Anna Volkova, Director of the branch of the Russian Society "Znanie" in St Petersburg, took part in the exhibition at the St Petersburg University stand. She made the report "Knowledge in the 21st century: traditions and innovations of enlightenment". 

To mark the 160th anniversary of the Botanical Garden at St Petersburg University, a special zone with views of the Japanese section of the Botanical Garden was presented at the University’s stand. A quiz was organised for visitors on knowledge of the history of St Petersburg University, dedicated to the celebration of the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University. The University organised a quest tour of the Dmitri Mendeleev Museum and Archives at St Petersburg University; an interactive VR simulator; a training simulator from the Graduate School of Management at St Petersburg University; and interactive events: career guidance games, training sessions, quizzes, and surveys. 

Traditionally, the University presented a unique format of clinical practice. The Clinic of Communication Projects at St Petersburg University offered a series of tests and games that helped determine how to develop your personal brand, cope with professional burnout, and write a CV. The Mediation Centre at St Petersburg University invited visitors to the salon to take a test for the type of conflict, complete a task on externalisation and the transition from positions to interests. 

During the exhibition, the University provided consultations on the degree and non-degree programmes and online courses of St Petersburg University. They also spoke about the rules for admission to the University. 

As part of the business programme, the panel discussion ‘Effectiveness of educational projects: a balance of true goals and indicators’ was held. Olga Alkanova, Director of the Teaching Excellence Lab in Business Education at the Graduate School of Management at St Petersburg University, took part in the discussion. The participants discussed modern educational projects, their delayed results and key issues that can influence the results. 

They also examined specific cases and approaches to assessing the effectiveness of projects in the field of additional professional education at universities and commercial companies. 

A significant part of the fair events was held in an online format on the platform "MMCO. Connect" and on the St Petersburg University website. About 90 University speakers took part in the online programme. On the start day of the event, Marina Lavrikova, Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities at St Petersburg University, addressed visitors to the exhibition with a welcoming speech, and leading scholars of St Petersburg University presented numerous academic programmes of the University. The University experts in the fields of linguistics, law, management, literature, medicine, history, ecology and other sciences gave online presentations and workshops. The online programme on the platform "MMCO. Connect" will last until 1 June. 

During the event, the stand of St Petersburg University was visited by Nikolai Toivonen, Rector of Melitopol State University, followed by a discussion on the possibilities of interaction between the universities. 

At St Petersburg University’s stand, the most popular were the interactive events organised by the University clinics; a historical quiz by the University museums; and a photo zone in which everyone had the opportunity to take a photo in the robe of a St Petersburg University graduate. In total, more than 4,000 photographs were taken. The scientific developments and achievements of St Petersburg University scholars aroused great interest. 

This year, MMCO.EXPO-2024 met more than 8,000 visitors and over 150,000 online visitors from 570 cities from 80 regions of Russia and 64 countries abroad, presenting more than 200 exhibitors. As part of the business programme, over 120 sessions were held in a hybrid format with the participation of 500 speakers, i.e. experts in various fields of education and business. 

St Petersburg University’s flag appears on the International Space Station 

To mark the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University’, the flag bearing the logo of Russia’s oldest university has become part of the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS). It arrived at the ISS with the crew members of the manned Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft and was signed by the cosmonauts in weightlessness. 

The flag, dedicated to the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University, was signed by Hero of the Russian Federation Oleg Kononenko, Commander of the Roscosmos crew member, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin. By the end of the year, the flag will be handed over to the University. 

As the cosmonauts noted in their congratulatory video, this flag had travelled a long way from Roscosmos headquarters to low Earth orbit, ending up on board the International Space Station at an altitude of over 400 kilometres. 

"In the same way, the University has followed an interesting and eventful path and throughout its 300-year history has continued to develop and make an invaluable contribution to the development of the higher education system and the training of high-calibre experts for the benefit of Russia," said Nikolai Chub in his address to the University’s students and staff. 

Humanitarian aid to be transferred to flood victims in the regions of the Russian Federation 

On the evening of 5 April, due to heavy flooding in the city of Orsk, a dam built on the Ural River burst. As a result, tens of thousands of houses were flooded, and local residents were forced to urgently leave their homes. This tragedy resonated with pain in the hearts of the University staff and students. The situation continues to be difficult. 

At the Rector’s meeting, the initiative, supported by the meeting participants, to collect humanitarian aid for those affected by the flood was discussed. The University has opened reception points for humanitarian aid for delivery to flood victims in the regions of the Russian Federation (in Orenburg, Kurgan, Tyumen, and other regions). The points are organised by the Volunteer Centre at St Petersburg University at the following addresses: 

• Offices 2-6, 2nd floor, 13B Universitetskaya Embankment; from Tuesday to Friday from 2pm to 6pm; e.zlova@spbu.ru 
• Office 4329, 28 Universitetsky Prospekt, Peterhof; Tuesday and Thursday from 11am to2 pm and from 3pm to 5 pm; telephone +7 (812) 363—67—23 

Clothes for adults and children, personal hygiene products, baby food and other essential items are accepted as humanitarian aid. Their full list is presented in an e-mail inviting the University staff and students to contribute to the collection of humanitarian aid for flood victims, sent to them on 15 April via corporate e-mail addresses.