International Polytechnic Summer School 2021 brought together more than 400 students from 30 countries

The International Polytechnic Summer School 2021 has officially begun. Certain programs of the school were held back in June, but the mainstream of educational modules began on July 19. That’s why it was decided to hold the opening ceremony on that day, which was attended by more than 140 international students from different countries. Total for the programs of the International Polytechnic Summer School (Hereinafter IPSS). More than 400 students from more than 30 countries have enrolled. By the end of the summer, they will study natural and engineering sciences, space, information and digital technologies, energy and civil engineering, Life Science, business and economics, the Russian language, and culture.

On behalf of SPbPU, the participants were greeted by the head of the SPbPU International Education Office Evgeniya SATALKINA, the head of the Department of International Educational Programs and Academic Mobility Olga EMELYANOVA, Associate Professor, Director of the Graduate School of Technology Entrepreneurship IAMT, Supervisor of the IPSS Cross-Cultural School on Entrepreneurship and Marketing program Vladimir SHCHEGOLEV, Associate Professor, Director of the SPbPU-FESTO Center, Program Supervisor of the IPSS programs Artificial Intelligence for All, Machine Learning Theory and Application, Smart Manufacturing and Digital Future Vyacheslav V. POTEKHIN. From the side of foreign partners, the opening ceremony was attended by Xiong LING, Project Manager of the International Cooperation Department of Shanghai Maritime University.

In recent years the International Polytechnic Summer School has become a trademark of Polytechnic University and attracts many international students from all over the world to its programs,” emphasized the head of the SPbPU International Education Office Evgeniya SATALKINA. “Even despite the coronavirus pandemic, the geography of our participants remains broad. I wish all the students good luck, productive studies, and good health. I hope that next year you will all be able to come to St. Petersburg and get to know our city and university in person.

Perhaps, all participants of the International Polytechnic Summer School without exception wanted to be in the classrooms, visit laboratories, and go for a walk in the historic center of St. Petersburg. However, safety comes first, and we can only hope that next season most of the programs will be held in person. In the meantime, IPSS-2021 is held in a mixed format. This is implemented in the following way: citizens of the countries with which Russia resumed air and rail links were allowed to come to St. Petersburg. They will study online with everyone else, but they will also be able to get to know the city and experience its cultural life - of course, with all the necessary security measures in place.

The coronavirus pandemic was not an obstacle to the implementation of programs with foreign partners: this year, Polytechnic University is holding modules on Materials and Technologies for the Creation of Energy Facilities in the Arctic together with LUT-University, (Finland), Bioengineering together with Leibniz University of Hannover (LUH, Germany), Sport Management & Marketing together with the University of Lorraine (France) and International Network in Sport and Health Science (INSHS, France). Traditionally, in cooperation with SOKENDAI, the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Japan) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will take place the Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, which will be accompanied by a new module for graduate and postgraduate students - Advances in Nuclear Fusion Science.

The work between the organizers of the International Polytechnic Summer School and the official Representative Office of SPbPU in Shanghai is actively developing. 118 students from Shanghai Maritime University (hereinafter - SMU) take part in the School’s programs thanks to its activities. Xiong LING, head of the Department of International Cooperation at SMU, spoke specifically about the participation of Chinese students in the IPSS-2021: Our universities signed an agreement on cooperation in 2020, and now we are successfully developing our joint partnership activities. More than 50 students from SMU attended the International Polytechnic Winter School in the winter of 2021, and this summer, the number has more than doubled. We have also begun work on joint programs, and we hope that our cooperation will develop dynamically and have a positive impact on the relationship of our universities and countries.

Information and digital technologies direction is very popular among foreign students. More than 100 participants signed up for the programs in IT field. Modules of Artificial Intelligence for all, Machine Learning Theory and Application, Smart Manufacturing and Digital Future, Big Data: Theory and Application, and others are attractive primarily because the instructors, specialists from SPbPU partner companies, provide exactly the kind of knowledge that potential employers require of students. In addition, even while working online, participants have access to the technical equipment of Polytechnic University. The modern platform of the SPbPU-FESTO training and research center allows the students of summer and winter schools to actively apply interactive remote technologies of interaction with the laboratory complex equipment in the process and independently choose topics and implement projects to develop innovative technological solutions of cyber-physical systems implementation in production in Industry 4.0 concept, commented the head of several IPSS programs, Associate Professor, Director of the SPbPU-FESTO Center Vyacheslav V. POTEKHIN.

Traditionally the energy cluster remains in great demand among foreign participants of the IPSS. Coordinators of the Polytechnic Energy Summer School for the third time have held their programs in an online format. The Summer Academy in Energy Field opened based on the School in 2021, which includes 8 educational modules, energy cases, an interactive cultural program, and even an introduction to the basics of the Russian language for all comers. The Academy will run until July 30. A total of more than 160 international students have joined it.

Many international students opt for management, economics, and business. The 2021 International Polytechnic Summer School also opened a new program within these areas, namely, Cross-cultural School on Entrepreneurship and Marketing, for which over 90 students enrolled. The Graduate School of Technology Entrepreneurship IAMT in partnership with SPbPU International Services has already held four English-language short-term schools on technological entrepreneurship, business strategy and supply chain in 2021. The Graduate School of Technology Entrepreneurship - 2021 is a new program of GSTE IAMT. It aims at the development of international entrepreneurial projects with an emphasis on B2C markets, where product and communication solutions must be designed and adapted to the characteristics of different national cultures, commented Associate Professor, Director of the Graduate School of Technology Entrepreneurship IAMT, head of several IPSS programs Vladimir SHCHEGOLEV.

And, of course, the International Polytechnic Summer School is hard to imagine without modules on the Russian language and culture. This year students from Spain, Belgium, Turkey, China, Japan, Germany, Bangladesh, Poland, and Indonesia signed up for them. Most participants chose modules aimed at the intensive study of the Russian language. All classes are held in an interactive format, involving a high degree of involvement in the learning process and constant interaction with teachers in real-time. One of the main goals of these programs is to help students overcome their insecurities and begin to communicate in Russian.

To better immerse students not only in the language but also in the cultural environment, virtual tours of the main attractions of the city, master classes in Russian cuisine, Russian traditions, and art are organized for the participants.

Students of higher language levels who are in St. Petersburg will have an additional opportunity to take state tests in Russian as a foreign language at the certified Testing Center of Polytechnic University after the summer school.

Of course, we all wanted the International Polytechnic Summer School to take place in a face-to-face format. But student safety is paramount to us. In addition to the rich educational part, we have developed an interactive cultural program, which this year is especially sundry. Virtual excursions, fascinating quests, online quizzes, and much more, said Olga EMELYANOVA, head of the Department of International Educational Programs and Academic Mobility.

Prepared by the SPbPU International Office