International Polytechnic Winter School 2022 started at SPbPU

The International Polytechnic Winter School online started at SPbPU. The new season brings together more than 450 international students from 20 countries, including China, Germany, France, Portugal, Croatia, Italy, India, and many others. From January to March, Polytechnic University will host 26 programs, six of which will be held for the first time. These programs are «Transport Machinery», «Project Management for Sustainable Development», «Quantitative Finance: Financial Markets», «HR Analytics and Human Capital Development», «Russia in the World», and «World Languages and TESOL». As always, the successful completion of the courses will result in international certificates with ECTS credits, which participants will be able to use at their home universities.

Over 350 participants joined the opening ceremony, which was held on the Microsoft Teams platform. On behalf of SPbPU, Professor Dmitry ARSENIEV, Vice-Rector for International Affairs, greeted the audience: The International Polytechnic Summer and Winter Schools is one of the largest international projects of Polytechnic University. During the pandemic, the Schools have already been held several times online, and we can see that students do not lose interest and motivation to participate in them. Moreover, many sign up again for other programs. This demonstrates the high standard of the courses we teach. Even in the online format, they are in demand and up-to-date.

Among the participants of the International Polytechnic Winter School 2022, there are many students from SPbPU partner universities: Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Maritime University (all universities in the PRC), Munich Technical University (Germany), etc. In general, this season there is a significant increase in participants from China. This is largely due to the activity of the official representative office of SPbPU in Shanghai.

The participants of the International Polytechnic Winter School were greeted by the heads of the programs. Vyacheslav POTEKHIN, Head of the IDT Programs of the Winter School, Director of SPbPU’s FESTO Center, emphasized that this year the participants will have updated programs on big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Oksana EVSEEVA, Director of Programs Information Centre and Program Support and Associate Professor of the Higher School of Technological Entrepreneurship, told about the areas of economics and management that will be studied by international students this season.

Significant interest among students has caused the program «Quantitative Finance: financial markets,» preparations for the opening of which began back in 2019. The Quantitative Finance: Financial Markets winter school program was the result of a long and painstaking work of the team of the Higher School of Engineering and Economics. Today we are glad to see students from different countries of the world who will spend two unforgettable weeks with our teachers, experts, tutors and coordinators. The slogan of the program is the phrase «Do you manage money or does money manage you? Choose the right side and join our school! — noted the head of the program, Doctor of Economics, Professor of the Higher School of Engineering and Economics Irina RUDSKAIA. According to the results of the program «Quantitative Finance: Financial Markets» participants will gain knowledge in the field of return and risk assessment of assets, experience in financial modeling using various software tools, learn how to make a comprehensive interpretation of the available information and make informed decisions in the field of management and analytics.

Besides new programs, international students of the International Polytechnic Winter School will study space technologies, engineering, and natural sciences, civil engineering, Russian language, and culture. And in their free time, they will traditionally have a rich cultural program, which will also be held online. Participants will go on an interactive walk around the campus of Polytechnic University and take part in a virtual tour of the Hermitage.

Prepared by the SPbPU International Office