On April 10, Saratov State University hosted the final plenary project session of the Social Centre, the operator of the Priority 2030 programme. The participants of the six groups presented their projects; they offered options for developing the target models of the university in different directions.

Before the final reports were presented, the members had worked on the four cycles – Current Projects, Target Model, Problematisation, and Organisational Solutions.

The final meeting was attended by SSU Rector Alexei Chumachenko, vice-rectors, the directors of the institutes, the deans of the faculties, the chairs of the departments, and the members of the groups.

The results were evaluated by Georgii Suvorov, Deputy Director for Science and Networking at the Social Centre, as well as the experts from the operator of the Priority 2030 programme Alexei Kuzmin, Alexander Fetisov, and Sergei Ryabchenko.

The meeting was also attended by the SSU industrial partners

– Head of the Office for Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies, Associate Professor of the Department of Pathological Anatomy, Head of the Experimental Office of the Experimental Oncology Resource Sharing Centre, Saratov State Medical University, a forensic pathologist of Saratov City Hospital No. 1 Nikita Navolokin (the Technologies of Personalised Medicine stratproject);

– the head of the group of promising developments of pulsed radiation sources of the Injection Research-to-Production Enterprise Sergei Portnov (the ICT-Electronics stratproject);

– a researcher at the Inius joint-stock company Oxana Burukhina (the Chemistry and New Materials stratproject).

The researchers, the teaching, and other staff of SSU put forward different approaches to solving the tasks set by experts. The teams were supported by Vice-Rector for Research and Digital Development Alexei Koronovskii and Head of Priority Projects and Programmes Elena Yelina.

Head of the Office for Digital and Information Technologies Leonid Bessonov presented the target model, management system, and financial policy of SSU. The team has developed its vision of “deficits” and “gaps” in the established university area. He noted that the university goal is to develop a scientific trajectory that meets the demands of a new generation of industry.

Associate Professor of the Department of Materials Science and Technologies and Quality Management, Senior Researcher at the Educational Laboratory of Digital Medical Technologies Dennis Terin spoke about the partnership management system at SSU. He proposed to develop stable partnership with corporations at the international, federal, and regional levels. The group participants marked that a unified partnership management system must be developed, so that the university will be able to conduct an expert assessment of proposed external projects and ensure unified cooperation with colleagues from enterprises.

Associate Professor of the Department of Dynamic Modelling and Biomedical Engineering, a laboratory assistant of the same department Yurii Ishbulatov and Programme Director of the Boiling Point Centre, Associate Professor of the Department of Medical Physics Andrei Rytik commented on the impact of strategic projects on the university units. The team members noted that the SSU has a well-established cooperation of scientific and educational affairs due to the development of strategic projects. According to the speakers, the university should not follow the requirements of the market, but set its trends taking into account its own advantages. The group proposed to expand expert assistance from industrial partners and confirmed that it is necessary to continue the planned transformations at the university.

Chair of the Department of Dynamic Modelling and Biomedical Engineering Anatolii Karavayev reported on the impact of strategic projects on the external companies. The group discussed the issue of transferring technologies developed at SSU to the market. As one of the ways to solve this task, the team named the establishment of a department for systematic work with applicants, the transformation of the university target model, the expansion of functionality, and increasing the staff of the Office for Research. The team drew attention to the resources of Saratov State University, which favourably distinguish SSU from other universities, namely human capital, innovative educational practices, strong and effective horizontal and vertical connections, unique equipment, and a well-formed brand.

The curator of the ICT-Electronics strategic project, Deputy Director for Research at the Institute of Physics, Deputy Head for Organisational Work of the Research Medical Centre, SSU, Associate Professor of the Department of Radiophysics and Nonlinear Dynamics Andrei Slepnyov presented the ideas of the Scientific Policy: Research and Development group. The team sees the university goal in scientific improvement in personalised medicine, ICT and electronics, chemistry and new materials, as well as pedagogy. Besides, the scientists highlighted the need for organised interdisciplinary cooperation of research groups at the university, the lack of anchor partners, personnel loss, as well as the difficulties of technology commercialisation.

According to the group, the development of scientific policy is in the growth of investments in the university, the development of modern facilities, and an increase in the percentage of commercialisation of intellectual property. To solve the current tasks, the group proposed to establish internal and external synchronisation units at the university that would combine the needs of the university and the industry.

The colleagues pointed out the need to promote scientific technologies of SSU researchers on the market, offer frontier solutions for partners, introduce interdisciplinary scientific communication, bring research and development to self-sufficiency, as well as increase the number of curricula involving scientific and business leaders.

Associate Professor of the Department of Physical Chemistry Irina Gamayunova and Svetlana Shilova presented the ideas in the Educational Policy direction. The colleagues have proposed an educational model of interdisciplinary training, which can become part of the Teachers in the Educational Paradigm strategic project. The aim of the educational policy is to develop competitive interdisciplinary research master's degree courses in priority areas.

According to the group, it is necessary to develop modules aimed at developing additional interdisciplinary competencies among students that are in demand from industrial partners, as well as skills in project activities and data management. They also suggested that the pedagogical module be included in the curricula of non-pedagogical courses.

At the end of the project session, the group summed up the results with the participation of Rector Alexei Chumachenko and the experts from the Social Centre. Follow our news on this topic.