А strategic session dedicated to the development program of the International Educational Center for Nuclear and Related Technologies "Obninsk Tech" until 2030 was held at MEPhI. Representatives of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Rosatom State Corporation, Rossotrudnichestvo, INTC Park of Atomic and Medical Technologies, and leading Russian universities gathered at the university to work on this large-cale project.
The strategic session was opened by Tatyana Terentyeva, Deputy Director General for Personnel of Rosatom State Corporation. She recalled the history of the Obninsk Tech project, the idea of which was initiated by the participants of the First International Atomic Youth Forum in September last year.
Tatyana Terentyeva is sure that Obninsk Tech should become a place of power where people will come to get the best education in the world, where students, graduate students, teachers – the future elite of the partner countries with whom we will work - will be trained. According to her, the project will also make it possible to fulfill the task set by the President of Russia – to increase the number of foreign students studying in our country.
The topic raised by Tatyana Terentyeva was developed by the rector of the MEPhI National Research University, Vladimir Shevchenko. He noted that 355 thousand foreign students study in Russia, and among them there are those who come to our country because there is the best education in the specialty that they would like to receive. According to the rector, it is for them that Obninsk Tech should become especially attractive. Vladimir Shevchenko added that Obninsk Tech is a big federal story, MEPhI is its flagship, but the task is to gather the best Russian universities and key technological partners on this site, make it a meeting place for education, science and the most modern technologies.
Valery Karezin, Director of the Project Office for Education Development and International Cooperation of Rosatom State Corporation, believes that Obninsk Tech should be an environment providing for the possibility of continuous educational trajectories and a variety of practices, the main functionality of the center is training and retraining, congress and exhibition activities, science and innovation, analytics and consulting, and the task In the near future, it is planned to build a dormitory for 800 people in Obninsk. Valery Karezin called the important mission of the project "the promotion of Russian nuclear and related education in the domestic and international markets under the single brand "Obninsk Tech".
Ksenia Trinchenko, Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, recalled that the head of state set the task not only to increase the number of foreign students in the country, but also to improve the quality of education, which requires the consolidation of the efforts of universities, and not competition between them.
Alexander Alimov, Director of the Department for Multilateral Humanitarian Cooperation and Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, assured the participants of the strategic session that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be happy to contribute to the implementation of the project, which sets itself the ambitious task of increasing the prestige and attractiveness of Russian education.
After the speeches, the participants of the strategic session began group work in three areas: international cooperation, recruiting and promotion; educational activities and interaction with partner universities; infrastructure development and resource mobilization. The experts made a number of proposals concerning unique educational programs, personnel training to ensure the technological sovereignty of the country, the development of the university campus and urban infrastructure.
The outcome of the strategic session was the decision to finalize the "Development Program of the International Educational Center for Nuclear and Related Technologies "Obninsk Tech" in order to submit a document in July in the format adopted for federal-level projects.
Concluding the event, the rector of the MEPhI National Research University noted that Obninsk Tech is a complex project that develops like a puzzle from many different details, but the higher the level of its vitality – the ability to move, act, develop.
For reference
Obninsk is the first science city of our country and a large scientific and technical cluster. It is home to the world's first nuclear power plant, the A. I. Leipunsky Institute of Physics and Energy, the Obninsk Institute of Atomic Energy (IATE NRU MEPhI) and a number of other landmark research centers. The main campus of the Rosatom Technical Academy, a modern multidisciplinary nuclear industry personnel training center, is also located in the city.
The Obninsk Tech International Scientific and Educational Center for Nuclear and Related Technologies is a technology hub that is being created in the Kaluga Region on the initiative of the Rosatom State Corporation and the MEPhI Research Institute. It is designed to facilitate the training of personnel for the nuclear power industry of Russia and friendly countries by combining the efforts of higher education, leading scientific organizations and industry enterprises. For this purpose, the infrastructure of the IATE of the MEPhI National Research University and the Rosatom Technical Academy is involved, 20 partner universities of Rosatom participate in the project. It is expected that Obninsk Tech will become a base for the development of modern educational technologies, an exposition of high-tech products of Russian companies, a venue for congresses, exhibitions, and international schools.
