2018 SPbPU International Winter School: See You Soon!
The Third Polytechnic International Winter Energy School is over: on February 2, 2018, at the Winter School official closing ceremony, all 140 students got their certificates of participation. The intensive schedule of the Winter School kept busy both students and organizers; practically every day, the research and educational lectures, excursions, trips, quests, trivia games, and other creative events were on the agenda. Within the frame of the three educational modules ("Power Sector," "Nuclear Power Engineering," and "Turbo-Machinery"), the students were studying theoretical aspects of "smart" power supply networks; wind turbine power generation; nuclear fossil and fuel cycle; small modular reactors; steam turbines, and many other things. Experts from the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, professors from SPbPU, Turin Polytechnic University, Milan Polytechnic University, University of Stuttgart, and Lappeenranta University of Technology shared their expertise and experiences with the students.
Besides desk studies, a special itinerary of visiting major St. Petersburg energy enterprises and companies had been developed: the students visited the leading Russian power engineering holding JSC REP, the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, the Elektroapparat Plant of High-Voltage Equipment, the St. Petersburg department of the Siemens Company; OOO Silovye Mashiny (Power Machines), one of the world's largest power engineering companies; and the South-West TPP. Undergraduate and postgraduate students had got a chance to familiarize themselves with operations of all these enterprises. Representatives of OOO Silovye Mashiny gave a talk to the Polytechnic Winter School participants about special constructive features of the nuclear power production development and organized a tour of Leningradsky Metallichesky Zavod (LMZ) where the power machines and turbines plant are manufactured.
"For me, the Polytechnic Winter School was not only about learning new theoretical materials but also a possibility to meet people with similar interests. Thanks to that, I got a chance to embrace their skills and reveal new methods of solving sub-specific tasks for myself. Homework and exercises done in the course of studies helped a lot, and I am deeply grateful to the professors who taught us. I also will keep the unforgettable memories of the tours, not to mention the magnificent beauty of St. Petersburg in winter which had impressed me immensely," Den Vlchek, a student from the Czech Republic, shared his impressions.
It is really hard to overestimate the work of volunteers (this time, activists from the Adapters Public Institute had also joined them): they helped to organize tours and excursions, and set a real photo quest, according to the rules of which the students were to visit as many places marked on the map as possible and make a team photo at each of those. Thanks to this activity the participants could see interesting places of St. Petersburg and, no less important, get to know each other much better. Volunteers also assisted with organization of the conversation clubs and the Day of Alternates which helped the students and teachers to meet and hear a lot of new things about allied disciplines.
"This winter, several activists from the Adapters PI were lucky to become a part of the big and united family of the Energy Team. Our work was to a big extent carried out in English, and this started long before the actual meetings with students from various universities of Europe and Asia, because foreign students from our University also participated in the work of the Energy Team. There is no doubt that participation in this project was a great pleasure for each of us," Tatiana Novitskaya, activist of the Adapter Institute, believes.
Each year, the number of participants of the International Polytechnic Winter School goes up, and the School itself does not stay the same: new teachers, new tours, trips and adventures, and new educational modules will be waiting for students in 2019. But the essential part remains the same: from year to year, school participants find new friends at the Polytechnic University, and get inspired with the atmosphere and culture of the city, which always offers lots of reasons to come again.