SPbGASU third-year student Alina Kizchenko presented the best architectural solution at the BIMPRO Olympiad in building information modeling, organized by BIMPRO with the support of SPbGASU and the National Association of Organizations in the Field of Information Modeling Technologies (NOTIM).

Presenting Alina with a winner's diploma, BIMPRO director Anna Nikolaeva invited her to join the design team. “I was sure that you were already working, because you showed a high professional level and the ability to organize your time,” she said to the student. Alina promised to definitely think about how much work she could do given her studies at the university. She is a third-year student at the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Municipal Services, majoring in Information Systems and Technologies.

— I consider the Olympiad a good platform for gaining practical skills, which provides an opportunity to plunge into the work process and understand a designer's professional everyday life. And this is what I need, because in the future I plan to work in the field of information modeling. I made this choice back in my second year, when, as part of the “Fundamentals of Architectural Structures” discipline, we were given the task of making a full-fledged house project in any program. I chose Archicad and taught it myself, so I'm fluent in it. But I’m sure that if necessary, I can master other programs,” Alina said.

According to Anna Nikolaeva, Alina’s project was recognized as the best not only in the section, but also in the entire Olympiad. It was precisely to identify such capable and interested students in improving their professional skills in information modeling that the Olympiad was held.

— We are interested in training personnel “for ourselves” and in continuity between the university and the industry. Therefore, we decided to conduct an experiment in the form of an Olympiad, thereby also identifying how interested students are in this area and whether universities are ready to support it. The result pleasantly surprised us: in four sections, 129 applications were submitted from students of SPbGASU, St Petersburg Mining University, and St Petersburg Polytechnic University. 20 works were completed, 85% were of high quality. The statistics of the Olympiad are a mirror reflection of the current personnel situation in the labor market, when specialists are ready to work, but there are not enough competencies, noted Anna Sergeevna.

She emphasized that the architectural solutions were executed to the highest quality, which confirms the good level of educational practice in information modeling: not all specialists can produce such good and speedy result.

• The organizers of the Olympiad saw great potential in other students who were not among the top three winners. Therefore, the most promising ones were given letters of gratitude. In addition, BIMPRO is ready to invite them for an internship.

— After holding the Olympiad at the city level, we plan to go to the All-Russian one. I am sure that in this way we will be able to identify talented children throughout the country,” summarized Anna Sergeevna.

The president of NOTIM, Mikhail Viktorov, agreed with her believing that the concentration of such events should be not only in Moscow, but, most importantly, in the regions.

— Participation in the Olympiad will be a confident step into professional activity for the children. We will include the winners and holders of letters of gratitude in a separate register, which will be a high assessment of their professional competencies. The register is also important for potential employers looking for specialists. With such knowledge and skills, the guys will definitely be in demand in the labor market.

Other winners from SPbGASU:

• in the “Architectural Solutions” category, second place was taken by Elizaveta Zabelina (first year student at the Institute of Part-Time Studies), third place by Nikolay Korshikov (third year student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering);
  
• in the “Heating and Ventilation” category, Egor Stepanov (fifth year student at the IPTS) won, second place went to Ekaterina Dundukova, third place to Ekaterina Karpuschenko (third year student at the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Municipal Services);
  
• вIn the “Construction Solutions” category, third place was shared by Danil Khodzhakhov (third year student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering) and Valery Zhurkov (fourth year student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering).

Vice-Rector for Educational Activity Sergey Mikhailov:

The TIM direction is growing and developing, taking on new forms, which indicates its relevance. By supporting this initiative, SPbGASU confirmed its status as one of the leaders of the TIM movement. The result of the first Olympiad showed that everything worked out for us, our goals were achieved: it was participated by the leading universities in St Petersburg. This means that the Olympiad have a good future, and reaching the All-Russian level will give it a new impetus for development. The advantage of the Olympiad is that it can give a start to professional life not only to winners and runners-up, but also to participants who have proven themselves. That's why there are no losers in the Olympiad.