International Partner Days were organized at SPbGASU
On 11 and 12 November, Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering held the International Partnership Days in an online format. Our students had the opportunity to meet representatives of SPbGASU’s partner universities, learn more about academic exchanges and ask their questions during the presentations. More than 250 students participated in the event.
Virtual roundtable “Challenges and Prospects for International Cooperation in 2022”
Irina Lugovskaia, SPbGASU Vice Rector for External Relations and Youth Policy, opened the Partner Days emphasizing the long history of developing the University’s cooperation with foreign partners as well as its increasing value in the context of the global pandemic.
"I hope this event will become an annual platform for meetings with our partners, and I am glad that a lot of them joined us today," she said.
Day 1 also featured a special event – the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between SPbGASU and Newcastle University, UK. The document provides for academic cooperation, including student exchanges, joint research activities, organizing joint conferences and symposia on topics of mutual interest.
Prof. Irina Lugovskaia and Dr. Paola Gazzola signing the MOU
"Newcastle University is a world-renowned institution of higher education and we greatly value our partnership, which will certainly enrich our network of international contacts and provide our students and teachers with new research and educational opportunities," said Irina Lugovskaia.
The Vice Rector expressed her gratitude to Newcastle University’s lecturers Dr. Josep Maria Garcia-Fuentes who contributed a lot to establishing cooperation between the two institutions, and Head of the INTO Architecture Programme Thomas Kern, who had visited Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering on a number of occasions to lecture and give master classes for our students. Dr. Paola Gazzola, Head of School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, who represented Newcastle University at the signing ceremony, said that the cooperation between the two institutions promises to be fruitful, since SPbGASU and Newcastle University share common values, encouraging students’ development in their studies and future profession and welcoming new approaches to architecture.
The International Partner Days also introduced a number of new SPbGASU partners in the field of academic mobility: Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Bergamo (Italy), the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (Norway), Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology (Germany) and TTK University of Applied Sciences (Estonia).
On the second day of the event, Prof. Maurizio Meriggi (Politecnico di Milano, POLIMI) presented a pilot project of joint lectures and practical classes for architecture students from SPbGASU and POLIMI. The classes will start in spring 2022 and will allow students of the two universities to gain unique experience in architectural design at selected sites in St. Petersburg and Milan.
"The project is very important to us as an opportunity to directly exchange the best teaching practices of the Italian and Russian architectural schools" told Fedor Perov, Head of the Department of Architectural Design at SPbGASU.
Some of the partner universities were presented not only by their faculty members or the international office staff, but also by SPbGASU students participating in the exchange programmes. The exchange students talked about their experience of studying abroad, language learning, social life and extracurricular activities, and shared their life hacks with those who also plan to take part in academic mobility programmes. Mikhail Semenenko is currently studying at the Special School of Public Works, Construction and Industry (ESTP Paris) in France and aspires to obtain a double degree in Civil Engineering. Mikhail told about his studies in France as well as shared some practical tips on student life abroad. Polina Voitenko, who recently completed her Master's degree at SPbGASU, is now pursuing her postgraduate studies at FH Münster University of Applied Sciences in Germany. Polina had got acquainted with the university during her exchange period as part of a cooperation agreement between SPbGASU and FH Münster. Liubov Grab, a participant of the exchange programme at the Technical University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) emphasized the importance of learning the national language of the host country and making the most of your studies abroad. In Madrid, Liubov is attending two schools simultaneously– the Engineering School and the School of Architecture, taking courses both in English and Spanish.
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The presentation part was followed by a two-day virtual round table for representatives of the partner universities, which was dedicated to challenges and prospects for international cooperation in 2022. The partners discussed the digital transformation of higher education and academic collaboration, organizing the study process for international students and issues of academic mobility during the pandemic, as well as network education programmes as a way to increase university competitiveness in the global education market. Participants concluded that the coronavirus pandemic had limited physical travel around the world, but provided many opportunities for online collaboration. However, most of the speakers noted that the implementation of various forms of interuniversity collaboration requires more support from university authorities.
A total of 19 foreign universities from 13 countries took part in the SPbGASU International Partner Days: Hokkaido University (Japan); Newcastle University (UK); Leipzig University of Applied Sciences, RWTH Aachen University, Leibniz University of Hannover, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenber, FH Münster University of Applied Sciences, Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology (Germany); the University of Bergamo, the Polytechnic University of Milan (Italy); LAB University of Applied Sciences (Finland); TTK University of Applied Sciences (Estonia); ESTP Paris (France); Technical University of Madrid (Spain); Parul University (India); Beijing University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (China); University of Minho (Portugal); Technical University of Košice (Slovakia); Oslo School of Architecture and Design (Norway).
Text: Alexandra Podolnikova
Photos provided by the International Relations Division of SPbGASU
✔ Find out about the opportunities for academic exchanges at SPbGASU
