EXTEND: The School for Postgraduates
- Published: Monday, 15 November 2021 08:39
A School for Postgraduates EXTEND has kicked off at NMSTU. More than 30 postgraduate students from Russia and Tajikistan gathered together to exchange their project related practices and talk about the best European practices in engineering education.
The School is held as part of the international project EXTEND: Enhancing the Quality of Engineering Education through Staff Development and New Teaching Approaches in Russia and Tajikistan. The project is being implemented by the research & education centre EXTEND-NMSTU Centre.
“The project aims to enhance engineering education by means of teaching approaches and is meant for lecturers and postgraduate students dealing with engineering subjects. The original plan was to hold the School at the University of Warwick in England. But due to the pandemic the School moved to Magnitogorsk, and our University became the venue for such a major event,” comments head of the Department of Foreign Languages for Engineering Sciences Natalia Zerkina.
Among the School participants, there are young researchers from Tajik universities, which include Tajik National University, Technological University of Tajikistan, Khujand State University named after academician Bobojon Gafurov, Kulyab State University named after A. Rudaki, as well as from Russian universities, which include Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, Mordovia State University and Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University.
During the School workshops, each delegation will be working on optimizing their engineering courses guided by their European partners from Romania, Latvia, Portugal and the UK. At the final stage, each team will present their optimized course in a case studies format.
“Considering the pandemic and all the limitations it is causing, we understand now that not every conventional educational course can be convenient in certain circumstances,” adds Natalia Zerkina. “That’s why our European partners will be telling the participants about the most advanced and popular teaching techniques and requirements adopted in Europe. This presents an excellent opportunity for postgraduates and young lecturers, as they can take advantage of the current global requirements and trends when elaborating their courses.”
Thus, the delegation representing Khujand State University are to share with the other participants their computer modelling and 3D printing practices.
Under the programme, young researchers will get an opportunity to take virtual tours around European universities and learn about the practices adopted by universities around the world. They will also be able to present their research interests to the international community and build new professional connections.
“Today, we clearly see that one cannot do without interaction with the world. One has to reach out and communicate with others, which is not possible without being able to understand a foreign language. It would actually be better to be conversant in three languages. Foreign language belongs to the baseline literacy level for any professional, especially in the case of engineers. Those who are taking up engineering must know the foreign language to be able to engage in communication and learn first about most recent developments and to not have to wait for translated texts to come out,” pointed out director of the Institute for the Humanities Tatiana Abramzon.
The School for Postgraduates EXTEND is to be held till 19th November. All the participants will be awarded participation certificates.
