SPbPU employees at City University London
At the beginning of the spring semester, Konstantin Borisovich Lebedev, representative of the Institute of Energy and Transport Systems (IEaTS) SPbPU, associate professor of the department "Turbines, hydraulic machines and aircraft engines» visited City University London (CUL) to participate in the scientific-technical seminar of the School of Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering. As part of the visit, K.B. Lebedev gave a lecture on the theory of hydrostatic machines and power hydrostatic drives. It should be noted that City University London is a strategic partner of the Polytechnic University. If we look at the history of cooperation, we can see that active work between the two largest universities has carried on for more than 30 years. The first cooperation agreement was signed in 1995. Every visit to City University London for employees of the Polytechnic University entails new unique opportunities and prospects. This time was no exception. K.B. Lebedev told us about his visit to the distinguished educational institution of the world.
- Konstantin Borisovich, please tell us about the main purpose of the visit to City University London. Was it the first contact with this higher educational institution for you?
- I know that our university cooperates with City University London. Various projects aimed at improving the quality of educational process and development of scientific potential are carried out. For this reason, the message about invitation to CUL for me was especially long-awaited and enjoyable news. This was my first trip to London. I have been working at the Polytechnic University for over 40 years, I have been closely following its achievements and I want to acknowledge the support on the part of the management of a large number of research initiatives, relating both to young people and the older generation. The opportunities today are unlimited. At any age, we learn and get to know the world around us. When such discoveries are related to professional interests, this is twice as important. The main purposes of my trip were to give a lecture on the theory of hydrostatic machines and power hydrostatic drives, introduction of educational and methodological materials on hydrodynamics of blade and hydrostatic machines, invite one of the professors from City University London, Ahmed Kovacevic to give a course of lectures at St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and prepare a joint scientific paper.
- What will be interesting about the work of Professor Ahmed Kovacevic for the Polytechnic University, in your opinion?
- Professor Ahmed Kovacevic has worked at City University London since 1998. His sphere of research interests concerns engineering, numerical simulation and so on. Many studies of this professor are associated with industrial complex. Ahmed Kovacevic is a supporter of active work with students; he involves them into research activities. The scientific results of Professor Kovacevic: author and co-author of 4 books, over 20 papers, 100 reports at reputable conferences. Honorary awards and prizes are among the professional achievements of the scientist. The leading universities of the world are happy to invite him to give lectures. I am confident that our students will learn a lot of new and useful things.
- Were all the objectives of your lecture achieved?
- My audience consisted of employees, Master’s and Bachelor’s students of City University London. Technical professions are extremely popular in the UK, international student audience chooses them, taking into consideration the requirements that modern labour-market sets for future specialists. I reckon that these tendencies bring together our countries. I made sure that the experience of the Polytechnic University is, to a certain degree, interesting for City University London. My lecture was dedicated to a very important brunch of power engineering and can be seen as a basis for practical application of the gained knowledge in production industry. Scientific research should not be separated from economic reality. We work to get the best and tangible results. Our dialogue with the international scientific community is not an argument, but rather a conversation about cooperation and mutual implementation of strategic plans. I am sure that City University London will support such undertakings. After I got back home, whenever it is possible, I share the information with my students about the visit to the London university, I tell them the training system of Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD students in technical fields of knowledge. All this, no doubts, contributes to stronger connections between the two universities.
- What advice can you give our students and professors to plan their visit to the UK?
- The UK is a wonderful and extraordinary country. I want to express my gratitude to City University London employees who showed me the main places of interest and told me about the capital city’s amazing history. I was lucky to visit the cultural center Barbican and see the solemn ceremony of degree awarding to the students of City University London. THe next day I attended a symphony orchestra’s performance in this cultural center. Professor Akhmed Kovacevic and I visited Cambridge. I saw the London of science, education and culture. For me, every day was full of interesting events and I am absolutely convinced that the best days of our cooperation with City University London are still to come.
For reference:
City University London (CUL) – is a state research university, located in London (Great Britain). The university was founded in 1894 as Northampton Institute and became a university in 1966, when it received its present name. The main CUL campus is situated in the Islington area of central London, with additional campuses in the City of London and the Holborn, Smithfield and Whitechapel. The university is organized in seven schools, consisting of about 40 scientific departments and centers. CUL has more than one hundred years experience in research and has a consistently high employment level of its graduates. The university’s mission is development of London in education, research, constant connection with business. In 2009-2010 CUL total income was 178.5 million pounds, 8 million of which was obtained from research grants and contracts. City University London takes 301st position in the QS World University Rankings.
International Relations Office