Russia Meets Africa at LETI: First Electrotechnical Became a Platform for the Forum of Young Scientists
Issues of cooperation between Russia and African countries in education and science were discussed at LETI.
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On 26 July, before the second Russia-Africa summit, a scientific forum "Russia-Africa: Dialogue in Research" was held at LETI. More than 30 delegates from Russia, Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania attended the event. Under the auspices of the forum, a round table with international participants, a plenary session, thematic sections, and a tour of the LETI campus were held.
Anastasia Minina, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of LETI, welcomed the round table participants and introduced the guests from Angola, Burundi, Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania to their Russian colleagues: Alexander Bedny, Vice-Rector for International Affairs and Networking of Lobachevsky University, and Anastasia Novikova, Vice-Rector for External Relations and International Affairs of Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University.
Anastasia Minina told about the projects that LETI plans to implement or is already successfully implementing in cooperation with international colleagues.
"Today, LETI cooperates with more than 90 countries around the world, and 20% of 10 thousand LETI students are international. By 2030, we plan to expand to 17 thousand students and increase the share of international students to 25%. We do not chase the quantity, the quality of education is always in the first place for us. To select the best students, LETI uses various mechanisms, such as numerous Olympiads, through which the best students can get an opportunity for free education in Russia."
In 2022, LETI launched the African Engineers Training program, which provides online training for schoolchildren from African countries in mathematics, physics, computer science, and the Russian language. In the 2022/2023 academic year, more than 700 students from 20 countries participated in the project. This year, the training will start in September, and the program will be expanded with the course "Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship." Participation in the project will be free of charge, and at the end of the project, the best students will be recommended for training in Russia after passing a test. The project is supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
"As part of professional education, LETI hosts the Summer University in Russia project. In 2023, a two-week event for participants from African countries will be held in September; participation will also be free of charge," said Anastasia Minina.
In November, with the support of Rossotrudnichestvo, LETI will hold the "Week of Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science" in Senegal: for 6 days, teachers of the First Electrotechnical will teach children maths, physics, and computer science face-to-face in different cities. The offline program will be preceded by online training.
On 10 November, an online conference for teachers of mathematics, physics, and Russian language from Russia and African countries will be held to share the best teaching methods and practices.
One of the projects that LETI is implementing jointly with Rosatom State Corporation and universities in Egypt and Malaysia is a master's program "New Generation of Electronic Component Base," under which students will first study at LETI in English and then spend one semester in one of the partner universities, having an opportunity to get acquainted with the technologies of these countries.
In 2024, a branch of LETI will open in Egypt, where a nuclear power plant is currently under construction. The first direction to be opened is Automated Process Control Systems, then the set of programs will be expanded.
At the opening of the plenary session, Valery Karezin, Director of Educational Projects of Rosatom State Corporation, addressed the participants of the forum "Russia-Africa: Dialogue in Scientific Research" via videoconference call.
"Rosatom is developing cooperation with the countries of the African continent in a wide range of areas, which includes not only nuclear power and desalination projects. This also includes research, the use of nuclear technologies in agriculture, medicine, and many other areas. We pay special attention to the African continent, which is undeniably a region of growth and strategically important for the development of cooperation. Of course, the realization of such projects is impossible without highly qualified national personnel; therefore, cooperation between Russian and African universities in science and education is particularly significant for us".
The plenary part of the forum continued with the speeches of LETI scientists: "History of Navigation" by Alexander Kukaev, Associate Professor of the Department of Laser Measurement and Navigation Systems, "Threat to Information Security" by Elena Fedorchenko, Associate Professor of the Department of Information Systems, and "Remote Health Monitoring" by Inna Korneeva, Assistant Professor of the Department of Bioengineering Systems.
LETI also hosted youth scientific sessions dedicated to scientific collaboration. Scientists from Russia, Nigeria, Burundi, Mali, Angola, and Tanzania presented their research with prospects for international cooperation. The section "Cooperation in Biomedicine" discussed advanced developments in medical systems and complexes, as well as innovations in personalized diagnostics of various diseases. Presentations in the Current Engineering Technologies section covered a wide range of engineering topics, from an interdisciplinary approach to the conservation of African elephants in Tanzania to the simulation of solar cells based on the crystal structure of perovskite.
In the section "Research in the Application of Artificial Intelligence and Information and Computer Systems," speakers spoke about the use of machine learning both for solving current problems of African countries, such as forecasting energy demand, and for the development of promising technologies, such as driverless cars.
As a result of the forum, representatives of Russian and international universities identified promising topics in the scientific and educational spheres and outlined trajectories for the development of cooperation.
