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SUAI’s Student Finished Internship at Turku University of Applied Sciences

We congratulate Maria Usoltseva, an instrumentation student at SUAI, on finishing internship and studies at Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland). Maria has studied 3D modeling, IoT, Finnish language and joint Finnish students in research at Turku biological laboratory. Also, she passed a training in Unity-based game development and digitalization. Maria has written her review on education at Turku University of Applied Sciences:

Turku University of Applied Sciences has a large modern building, with automated doors, a large dining room and iron lockers like in American films. Each floor has spaces with tables and sockets, which can be booked through an online meeting service for the team to work together on projects. There is a game development company and a software development company on the campus, which are fully supported by students. University life in Europe is a little different from that at our university. Each student makes his or her own schedule based on the courses they choose. Some courses are conducted during only half a semester, some are conducted remotely. Attendance of lectures is not checked, self-education has a keyy meaning. For example, a lecture on 3D modeling takes only 4 hours, but homework for the course takes at least 8-10 hours per week. According to my schedule, I attend three lectures and two meetings of the project team at the university per week, but in fact the training takes much more time. Each employee and student has a special university mailbox, so the process of communication between the university and students is much easier. The university mailbox provides students with information about upcoming classes, planned activities, schedule changes and other important things in the life of the university. You can also use the online calendar built into the mailbox to schedule a meeting with a faculty member or administration representative and discuss your concerns.

Communication between students and faculty is somewhat more informal than in Russian universities. The instructor is more of a mentor than a teacher. Always ready to help, answer a question and understand a situation. Students turn to teachers simply by name and the whole process of communication takes place on an equal footing, without division of freshman professors. In classes on 3d modeling, we study the Blender application, which helps you make a model of absolutely any subject or creature, starting with the design of the apartment and ending with an animated character for a computer game. During the 4-hour lecture, the instructor introduces us to the functions of the application and their application, and at the end of the lesson we have time to complete the task. The homework is to create a new model using the new skills, as well as to finish the model given in the lecture.

It is often used to create models for computer games. During the project course on game creation we used the models created in Blender for export to Unity environment. In the Innovative Projects course at the beginning of the semester, each exchange student selected 3 projects that they would like to join. The aim of our project was to develop an illumination device for cells with matter placed in a laboratory microscope. The device is a board with 64 remotely controlled LEDs using a website that we developed.

My area of responsibility in this project was the development and creation of a 3d filter prototype model, which prevents the light from spreading from one LED to the adjacent cells. As part of the work on this project the team meets twice a week for 2-3 hours in the laboratory. The work was carried out entirely by students. Once a month our meetings were attended by a curator from the university and the project client. The idea of this course is that real companies pay the university, so that the students would solve their problem to help their business. The tasks are absolutely different, from a 3D building scanner and creating an underground parking plan to a computer game for visually impaired people.

In the game development course we have allocated half of the semester for self-study of the Unity development environment with the help of the online course provided by the developer of this environment. During the second half of the semester by the exchange students, without the intervention of the teacher, we created a computer game from scratch. The course of Internet things is divided into three sub-courses. Basics of the Internet of Things, its analysis and security of the Internet of Things. During the course we learned to program on a microcontroller arduino and a microcomputer rasbery pi, performed laboratory work on python to analyze databases and laboratory work on safety.

A semester of exchange in Finland was the best thing that happened to me during all 3 years of study at the university. It is an invaluable experience. I got to know a lot of people from different countries, learned traditions and cultures of other nationalities and made new friends. Also, thanks to this semester I improved my English very much, because despite the large number of Russian students, most of the time I spoke English. I got the skills to work in an international team and got to know the education system and life in another country. Thanks to everyone in Turku University of Applied science who helped me and taught me. Special thanks to Päivi Oliva for helping and guiding us whole semester, and to Emmi Junkkari for being my tutor.

Final Strategic Session within Export of Education Project

July 3, SUAI participated in the final webinar on export of Russian education. The topic of today’s online-meeting was the Diversification of international recruitment tools as the instrument of the Export of Education Project.

In previous sessions the participants talked on basic tasks and priorities of governmental policies in export of Russian education in 2020, goals and tasks within the Export of Education Project, economic interests of Russian regions in the development of higher education export, international accreditation of educational programs and implementation of quota recruitment in 2020.

The challenging year of 2020 caused many discussions on tools, methods and problems of international activity at universities. Dozens of reports and presentations by the organizers aimed at providing necessary information, so that Russian universities could respond to challenges.

The 4 webinars resulted in better understanding of current situation and of specific features in this year’s international activity.

SUAI Enhances Cooperation with Chinese Higher Education

July 2, 2020 a MoU between SUAI and Shenyang Ligong University (SLU) was signed to establish and develop academic cooperation with international exchanges of mutual interest.

The signing ceremony was held online, SUAI’s side represented with the Rector Yulia Antokhina, the Vice-Rector for International Affairs Konstantin Losev and the Head of the International cooperation Sub-Department of DIA Yulia Makarova.

The MoU considers student and faculty exchange, joint educational programs, transfer of information and materials, cooperation in R&D within joint projects.

SUAI’s Rector Yulia Antokhina claimed to be ready for new initiatives beyond the agreements in MoU, expecting stable increase of cooperation.

SUAI at Third Strategic Session within Export of Education Project

June 30, 2020 RANEPA’s Center of Competence for leaders and experts of international services held the third Strategic session within the Export of Education Project.

The webinar discussed presentations and reports by the organizers of the session to find out about working with foreign students and applicants. The leaders of universities, international services and international student offices discussed international scientific and educational cooperation, economic interests of Russian regions in the development of higher education export, international accreditation of educational programs, implementation of quota recruitment in 2020 and experience in recruiting foreign students under COVID-19 conditions.

Also, deeper recommendations were given on finding students in South America, Asia, Africa, Western Europe and CIS countries.

SUAI Shares Practices on How to Make Business in Finland

June 26, 2020 SUAI took part in the webinar on how to make business in Finland to share practices and experience with other universities, enterprises and social entities. The INCROBB program, the Southeastern Finland-Russia partnership CBC 2014-2020, focuses on cross-border cooperation in various fields.

The webinar watched reports and presentations by St. Petersburg and Finland officials to find tools and better understanding for cooperation. The participants gained highly-valued information on how to work with partners from Finland with mutual profit.