SPbPU presented the concept of the IT Development Club at the seminar in Japan

8 April 2015 International activities 862

The delegation of SPbPU represented by V.D.Khizhnyak, Head of the International Cooperation Office, M.V.Okrepilov, Director of the Institute of Computer Science and Technology, V.P. Shkodyrev, Head of the Control Systems and Technology Department of ICST and others took part at the seminar “The Development of Cooperation between SPbPU and the World Cities, World Class University Network (WC-2)” hosted by Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan.

Within the activities of the WC-2 University Network, SPbPU representatives took part in the discussions of five Club sessions: transport, ecology, medicine, business and culture. As an active participant of the WC-2 University Network St.Petersburg Polytechnic University offered to establish the Information Technology Club. At the meeting of the Strategic Group, the members of SPbPU delegation presented and defended the development concept of their project. After a detailed discussion, the members of the Strategic Group decided to establish the IT Club within the WC-2 University Network. It was decided that a new Club would be coordinated by SPbPU. The representatives of the Institute of Computer Science and Control Systems should determine a few strands of work where the collaboration with other members of theWC-2 University Network would be possible. They also should discuss potential projects, define the members and the sources of sponsorship, present a working plan of the Club and organize its effective work.

The members of our delegation presented the International Educational English Language Programs of SPbPU and discussed the opportunity to involve foreign students from the WC-2 Member Universities. The leaders from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the University of Sao Paulo, and Meiji University showed a special interest to our programs. By the way, Meiji University, one of the leading Universities of Japan, together with 13 other Universities of the country has won the national competition, and it is the member of the project similar to Russian Academic Excellence Project 5-100-2020. At the present time our University is preparing to conclude an agreement on collaboration and student exchange with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Meiji University.

In August 2015, City University London is going to host a Summer Symposium. The issues concerning the forthcoming London Symposium were actively discussed within the seminar. The Symposium will have meetings for each the five specialist strands (in accordance with the five Clubs). SPbPU is going to provide a group of postgraduate students, Master’s Degree students and professors specialized in the strands of each club to take part in the Symposium.

The representatives of the WC-2 Member Universities took an interest in a large-format cross-disciplinary summer school that SPbPU would host this year. It is planned that several students from each of the WC-2 member Universities will participate in it.

It was agreed that leading professors from the WC2 Member Universities would take part in the academic activities of all Clubs. Thus, Professors Christopher Rayn and Peter Ayton from City University London, Professors Hideki Hayashi and Yumi Ono from Meiji University, Professor H.S. Man from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Professors Marchello Romero and Moacir Novaes from the University of Sao Paulo are coming in the short run. Besides the ones listed above a large number of foreign professors showed their interest to collaborate with SPbPU. Currently, the terms of their invitation are being agreed.

SPbPU presented the concept of the IT Development Club at the seminar in Japan
SPbPU presented the concept of the IT Development Club at the seminar in Japan
SPbPU presented the concept of the IT Development Club at the seminar in Japan

Within the seminar, the agreements to develop joint programs were reached. For example, they include the participation of all the WC-2 member Universities of “Eco-Campus” Club in the framework of an English language international Master’s program of the Institute of Civil Engineering “Energy Efficient and Sustainable Building”, a double degree program of the Technical University of Berlin based on an international Master’s program of the Institute of Civil Engineering “Business Development and Innovative Entrepreneurship in International Context”, etc.

Special attention was paid to the development of scientific activities of the WC-2 Clubs. Within the meetings of Strategic Group and the WC-2 Clubs, SPbPU representatives brought up an issue of collaborative efforts to attract grantmakers that could fund the joint international projects. The members of SPbPU delegation offered several projects for counterpart financing (for example, “Eco-Campus as a City Laboratory”, “Entrepreneurship Support in World Capitals: Cross-country Comparison”, etc.), prepared a list of potential sources to fund a newly established IT Club. It should also be noted that the representatives of SPbPU announced a plenty of initiatives. Almost all of them were accepted by the members of the Clubs and were included into the short-term plans.

To control the accepted solutions SPbPU delegation decided to hold a meeting in a month after the seminar to find out how the work of the Clubs on each five specialist strands would be carried out. Special attention would be paid to IT Club. Moreover, the WC-2 Strategic Group decided to hold regular videoconferences with the participation of the WC-2 Member Universities .

At the final meeting, Professor Stanton Newman, Chair of the WC2 University Network announced about SPbPU initiatives including creating a new Club and joining a new member of the WC-2 (Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada). He pointed out the interest and an active work of all the participants of the seminar and expressed his hope for a successful implementation of all the accepted decisions.

The WC-2 University Network was established in 2010 by City University London. The WC-2 Network has been developed with the goal of bringing together top universities located in the heart of major world cities to contribute to further development of important issues in the context of world cities. The Network includes Universities that occupy leading positions in the QS World University Rankings: City University London, SPbPU, the Technical University of Berlin, the Polytechnic University of Milan, the City University of New York, the University of Sao Paulo, The Metropolitan Autonomous University, The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Meiji University, Tongji University, the University of Delhi and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Within the WC-2 University Network, 6 Clubs work on the issues concerned with innovations and programs of the development in the following specialist strands:

  • Transport 
  • Global Health 
  • Sustainability 
  • Business 
  • Global Cultures 
  • Information Technology (established by SPbPU in 2015).

International Relations Office

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