The First International Alumni Online Forum was Held at SPbGASU

On 22 November, the Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering for the first time hosted an online forum for international alumni of different years.

The meeting was opened by SPbGASU Vice-Rector for Youth Policy Irina Lugovskaia, who, on behalf of the rector, greeted the participants and noted that over the years of its existence the university have graduated about four thousand foreign specialists.

“We dedicate this forum to the 190th anniversary of our university, one of the oldest technical higher educational institutions in Russia. Studying at a technical university is not easy. Especially for a foreigner. However, most of our students cope with all tasks.

Significant assistance in adaptation, in organizational matters, they are provided by the international students council, which consists of wonderful guys who have time to study well and participate in public life.

We are proud of them and wish them success,” said the Vice-Rector. She also noted that dozens of applicants study Russian every year at the SPbGASU preparatory centre, and this year the ministry allocated state-funded places for them for the first time. The number of places is expected to increase next year.

Svetlana Petrova, Head of the SPbGASU International Relations Division, who moderated the meeting, expressed her hope that the forum would become a good tradition: “It promises to be sincere and informative. We hope that past graduates will share interesting stories about their student life and professional path.”

✔ Forum participants told how they came to SPbGASU (LISI), what impressions they had of the university and what role it played in their lives.

Elena Romanovsky, a graduate of the Faculty of Civil Engineering 2022 from Moldova, is grateful to the university for friends from all over the world, trips to conferences and competitions, for the knowledge that allowed her to find a job during her studies. Now she is an architect at the Lakhta Center and joined the meeting directly from her office. “Despite the fact that I am a constructor by diploma, SPbGASU develops competencies that allow me to work as an architect. I fell in love with the university at first sight and do not regret it,” said Elena.

Antonia Angelova graduated from the Faculty of Architecture this year and continues her postgraduate studies. She came to St Petersburg almost eight years ago from Bulgaria. Over the years of her studies at the university, she has repeatedly become the winner of student competitions (last year, for example, she won the Student of the Year competition), she had an internship in large architectural bureaus and was actively engaged in extracurricular work. Now Antonia is the head of the SPbGASU international students council. Together with Navindu Devaraja (Sri Lanka), a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture in 2021 and a former chairman of the council, who is now studying for a master's degree, as well as other activists, she represented our university at major international events, organized a Russian language conversation club and a club for foreign students Kuppia, where senior students in Russian and English help those who wish to master the AvtoCAD, Revit and SketchUP programs.

Wang Dongliang (China) graduated from the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Municipal Services in 2021. He learned about the university when SPbGASU teachers arrived at Henan University, where Wang Dongliang studied for a bachelor's degree. The meeting became fateful. “Associate Professor at the Department of Architectural and Engineering Constructions Aleksandr Nikolaevich Panin and Associate Professor at the Department of Descriptive Geometry and Engineering Graphics Svetlana Semyonovna Shuvalova spoke about St Petersburg and SPbGASU. The lectures were informative, full of positive emotions and warmth - I like this approach,” he explains. Wang Dongliang builds a career in international companies, acts as an interpreter at industry events and is proud to have graduated from our university.{gallery name="иные"}

He was joined by Giovanni-Javier Ayala-Pupiales, the Faculty of Architecture graduate from Ecuador. “Studying in Russian was difficult, but I am glad that I received such a prestigious diploma, and when I tell someone that I graduated from a university in Russia, they look at me with respect,” says the graduate.

Graduates appreciate not only the skills acquired here, but also the friendly atmosphere at the university. “I graduated from the Faculty of Architecture only this year and I already miss our professors,” says Sujita Kumari (India), adding that while living in Russia, she felt like a representative of her country, and after returning to her homeland seven years later, she feels that now represents Russia in India.

The forum was also attended by those who graduated from LISI decades ago. Simeon Malinovsky (Bulgaria), a graduate of the Faculty of Sanitary Engineering (former name of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Municipal Services) in 1983, said that the education received here had a huge impact on his career.

“Life has brought me to dozens of countries, and I owe this to LISI and its teachers, who instilled in us not only professional qualities, but also the spirit of adventurism,” Simeon shares. He recently released the book Around the World in the Race for ECOTECH, where he spoke about his work around the world, and promised to send a copy to his alma mater when the publication was translated into Russian.

Yaroslav Raychik (Poland, graduate of 1983, major in Structural Mechanics) considers the years spent at LISI to be among the best in his life. Having received a specialist degree and gone home for some time, he returned to St Petersburg to study at the postgraduate course of our university. Yaroslav remembers his supervisor Aleksandr Vasilyevich Bolotny, then Vice-Rector for International Relations, as a friendly and open person and an amazing teacher. “St Petersburg is the city closest to me, with which I have a strong connection and which I never forget, although I have been teaching in Poland at the Częstochowa University of Technology almost all my life,” says the graduate.

Uzeyir Aliyev, chairman of the Azerbaijan Association of Graduates of Russian (Soviet) Universities, also spoke at the meeting. He emphasized that among the members of the association there are many who graduated from SPbGASU / LISI, and expressed hope for cooperation between our university and the association.

At the end of the forum, the graduates exchanged contacts and agreed to stay in touch with each other and the university.

Text: Aleksandra Podolnikova, SPbGASU international relations division;
Photo: 1–5, 7–8 – international relations division; 6 – Simeon Malinovsky