The Beginning of Academic Year

The academic year at the University will begin on September 1, 2020:

• For students in secondary vocational education programs and lyceum
• Intramural students of Bachelor, Specialist and Master’s degree programs.

On October 1, postgraduate, intramural and intra-extramural students of Bachelor, Specialist, and Master’s degrees will begin to study.

The “Knowledge Day” event for 1^st-year Bachelor degree and Specialist’s degree students will be held in the format of study groups with student curators from a senior year (adapters), which will be assigned to each group. The adapters will independently contact their groups after the publication of the enrollment orders, introduce the students of the group to each other and tell them about further interaction. There will be no traditional annual ceremonial lineup on September 1.

On September 1, catering facilities will start operating on the territory of the university campus.

TRAINING FORMAT

For 1st year intramural students of Bachelor and Master’s degrees programs who are located in St. Petersburg and have valid visas / migration cards with the “study” purpose of entry, the training will be organized in a mixed mode.

! All programs and curricula will be implemented in full scope. Those who cannot enter the country will have access to electronic educational materials posted in the electronic information and educational environment of the university.

The schedule of classes (regardless of the mode of study) will be displayed in the student’s personal account on the university website after enrollment. For the organization of training, contact the directorates of the institutes via the hotline and contacting curators of international educational programs (for students using these programs).

FAQ

Why it was decided to leave IIMET students on distance learning?

- First of all, IIMET is the largest institute of Polytechnic University, a third of the total university contingent (more than eight thousand people), with the highest percentage of foreign students, many of whom will not be able to come to Russia by the beginning of the academic year.

Russian and foreign students study in mixed groups. The organization of teaching one part of the students on-site and the other remotely will require a significant increase in financial costs and additional human resources. This cannot be implemented on the scale of IIMET with no rise in the cost of training.

Secondly, the specialities of educational programs implemented at this institute allow to implement curriculum disciplines in a remote format without any loss of quality.

Thirdly, the spring semester showed that IIMET, in contrast to other institutes and areas of training, turned out to be technically and organizationally better prepared for distance learning. The teachers of the institute in an easier manner and without loss of quality transferred the transition to distance learning, since they had the largest number of ready-made online courses, as well as the opportunity to conduct practical classes in a distance learning mode, using technologies that had already been worked out earlier.

Thus, we proceed from the fact that the temporary transfer of students of senior grades of IIMET to distance learning will significantly reduce large flows of students at the start of the academic year and at the same time provide educational services in full and without loss of quality.

Do not forget that streaming lectures and some other disciplines (at the institutes’ fields of study) will go online for students of all institutes. Even before the pandemic, within the framework of mixed learning, we transferred part of the disciplines at all institutes to online courses; this practice will continue in the new academic year.

- How long will IIMETstudents will be studying remotely?

- Distance education for IIMET is a temporary measure taken now and here, based on the objective need to reduce the risks of the beginning of the school year.

As soon as the epidemiological situation allows us to be sure that we can safely return the guys from our largest institute to full-time education and ensure the communication of teachers and students in compliance with social distancing standards, we will begin to do this. If the situation allows, we will be ready to move on to the second stage from October 1 and transfer all intramural students to full-time studies with the use of e-learning, having warned them in advance about this.

 - Can students return to their dormitories?

-  Foreign students who have entered the territory of Russia will be able to start face-to-face studies after 14 days of self-isolation since the day of arrival in case of a negative test result for COVID-19 (COVID-19 test is performed 10-12 days after arrival in the country). For the period of self-isolation, they are provided with a separate university dormitory.

- When will they start making the invitations?

Processing the invitations to study at SPbPU will be possible after the official permission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.  

- When will students from visa-free countries be able to arrive?

Foreign students from visa-free countries will be able to enter the territory of the Russian Federation after the official opening of borders with the country of residence of the student.

Order on preparation for the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year.