Short description

Bauman Moscow State Technical University is one of the oldest higher technical educational institutions in Russia. It is one of the three leading universities in Russia and holds leading positions in the Russian rankings of technical universities. The key feature of the training here is the combination of theoretical and practical knowledge, which the university has been implementing since its foundation in 1830.

General information:

BMSTU territory is located along the Yauza River in the oldest historical district of Moscow — Lefortovo. The infrastructure of the university is very advanced. It includes: 20 academic buildings, a college, 13 dormitories (some of which are within walking distance), a sports complex (more than 50 clubs), a palace of culture, a polyclinic, production facilities and scientific bases.

An integral part of the life of the University is the social activity of students. Every year, the university hosts events organized by various student associations — from the club of young scientists and philosophers to the KVN team and dance groups.

Today, the National Research University of BMSTU is rightfully considered one of the best universities in Russia, one of the three universities graduates of which are most in demand in the labor market. More than half of the students start working already in their senior years. Students are actively involved in research work. Graduates successfully triple into the largest corporations (such as Rosatom, Rostec, Roscosmos, Gazprom, Transneft, Mail.ru, Group IB, etc.)

Dmitri, good afternoon. Let's talk about the university. In 2022, BMSTU will celebrate its 192nd anniversary. In the 19th century it was a craft educational institution, and today it is the flagship of technical education. It is one of the oldest universities in the country. Bauman Moscow State Technical University is a leading technical university not only in Russia, it has a very high rating among universities not only in our country, but also in the world. How does "Baumanka" manage to hold such positions for almost two centuries?

Bauman Moscow State Technical University was founded in 1830. Training at the MSTU is conducted at 18 faculties (105 departments) and at the technical school in Moscow, as well as in the branches in Kaluga and Mytishchi. Graduates and professors of BMSTU have done a lot for the development of world engineering science. Civil and military aircraft of A. Tupolev and P. Sukhoi are known all over the world. N. Dollezhal created the world's first nuclear power plant; S. Lebedev created the first computer in Europe (and the USSR), S. Korolev led the development programs of the world's first Earth satellite, the first space flight of Yuri Gagarin, laid the foundations for the creation of the first space orbital station and flights to the Moon and Mars. For the entire global history, 564 people have become cosmonauts who have made an orbital space flight, and 12 of them are graduates of BMSTU.

In 2009, MSTU was awarded the "National Research University" category, and in 2010 the university became a co-founder and partner of the Skolkovo Innovation Center.

From 2010 to 2020, the university intensively increased its potential a nd its p erformance indicators, a nd strengthened its international reputation. Bauman Moscow State Technical University successfully completed the development program of the National Research University and managed to rise in the OS World University Rankings (hereinafter OS) from 379th place in 2010 to 281st place in 2020. In the OS subject ranking, the university ranks 174th in the world in engineering, and 123rd in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering. Bauman Moscow State Technical University traditionally occupies the first position in the OS WUR ranking among Russian technical universities in the category of graduates' demand among employers.

The mission of the University is formulated based on the 190‑year history of the university: "Realizing its historical role in the creation and development of the Russian engineering school and paying tribute to the talent and skill of teachers, and the perseverance of students, Moscow State Technical University sees its mission in the formation of an engineering elite ready to serve the Motherland, relying on will, work, dedication and camaraderie, professional culture, creativity and responsibility."

First of all, it is clear that engineering education is extremely in demand all over the world, it is in demand in the country, and this is evident from the competitions in technical universities and this dynamic is becoming more visible every year. It is very important not to lose our identity and competitive advantage here. For many years there has been a myth that the Soviet school is the best in the world, since it provides a broad education, while the Western one is aimed at highly specialized areas. However, new enginery cannot be build by one person alone; theory can be written by oneself, but a complex engineering device cannot be created without previous experience. At our university, it is believed that education is based on three parts: training, attitude development and preparation. Learning is knowledge. Attitude development is about values: result orientation, group work, mutual assistance, patriotism — loyalty to both your country and your specialty. Preparation is about readiness for all kinds of situations that graduates may face when they start working. They need to understand how an organization functions, what kind of relationships there are, how they are built. The results of the training are the fastest to be forgotten. That is why it is said that in our time it is impossible to acquire knowledge once and for a lifetime. Education is built in, like a code, at the beginning of life, and remains forever. Preparation is necessary so that a young specialist can immediately get involved in work, without wasting time at the start of their career. It is possible to maintain leadership positions in all three aspects only under the condition of constant development. In 2021, BMSTU won the university academic leadership program "Priority 2030", ranking 1st and thus getting classified as one of the strongest universities in Russia. The university has again (as has happened more than once in its history) set an incredible scale goal: in the next decade we are going to transform BMSTU into an advanced educational institution capable of competing with the best technological universities in the world. Basically, we are quite fine as a university today, but it is necessary to identify and implement the best practices and examples of the organization of science and education, to make BMSTU more open, to find and apply technologies for the growth of youth creativity within not only narrow professional spheres, but also creative industries, which include artistic creativity, design, architecture, etc. All this works for the image of the engineer of the future. Not only the amount of knowledge growing exponentially, but also the mastery of methodology, intellectual emancipation, the ability to discover the best sides and talents in oneself — these are the main features of the representatives of the new engineering corps. This is the guarantee that our graduate will be successful anywhere.

There are many foreign students studying at "Baumanka". In this regard, I would like to learn more about what international programs are being implemented today, in which languages are the training conducted? How did it all start?

The first foreign students, despite t he close connection of our university with the military-industrial complex of the country, began to appear in the 1960s. They were students from the People's Republic of China. After graduation, they headed key positions in their country. But the dynamics of the growth in the number of foreign students could not be traced until the collapse of the USSR. Only since 1991, the university has been actively engaged in the education export and enrolling foreign students en masse. Currently, about 1,500 international students from more than 80 countries study at the university at all levels of education, from secondary special education to advanced training. After completing their studies, some of our graduates return to their homeland, but a significant part of them decide to stay in Russia or continue their studies, or get a job in other countries.We actively monitor the life of our graduates and are proud of their career successes. In the world space, Moscow State Technical University is actively working on the development of a partner network of organizations — today the university cooperates with 157 universities from 46 countries. The main cooperation is conducted within the framework of academic programs — double degree programs and network programs.

BMSTU has a double degree program. Please tell us, what fields of study does it include?

Now there are more than 15 double degree programs at the university, but they are not "mirrored»: some programs are implemented for students who want to study at a partner university at the same time, others have a focus on attracting students from other universities. Such programs, in my opinion, are the highest form of academic interaction, since they require synchronization of curricula of universities from different educational systems, which have their own standards, rules and legislative norms. Our partners in the framework of double degree programs are well-known universities both in the country of location and in the world: Austria — University of Applied Sciences of Upper Austria; England –De Montfort University; Germany — Rhenish-Westphalian Technical University of Aachen; Higher School of Mittweida; Italy — University of Genoa; China — Harbin Polytechnic University; Beijing Polytechnic Institut; Portugal — Higher Technical Institute of Lisbon; Finland — Lappeenranta University of Technology; France — Higher Central School of Paris.

It is known that more than 70 specialties are being taught at the university today. Among them are both traditional engineering and many new, modern technical directions, because BMSTU keeps up with the times. What are these specialties and why were they chosen?

Over the past 5 years, educational programs related to robotics and computer science have become ones of the most popular specialties. The competition for these specialties accounts for from 10 people to 1 place and above, both on a budget and fee-paying bases of training. In 2021, the number of applicants exceeded 20,000 people (for comparison, a year ago it was 17,000), and they submitted almost 60,000 applications for admission.

Dmitry Vadimovich, I must ask questions about how the pandemic affected the educational process at the university. It has affected all life processes, political processes, and, of course, education. I understand that, like all other universities around the world, you had to quickly reorganize, establish the online learning process. What difficulties arose and how did you solve them? What have these two difficult years taught both teachers and students? What knowledge are you taking into 2022?

The current situation due to the pandemic has certainly had an impact on all areas of the university's life. The main thing is that a lot of work has been done to create a digital copy of the university. So, there are tools for providing any services for students, both educational and organizational. However, from the point of view of the education quality, distance learning technologies could not fully replace face-to-face communication between a teacher and a student. My colleagues and I are deeply convinced that knowledge-intensive engineering specializations will not be transferred exclusively to the online teaching format for a long time.

The infrastructure that we got "thanks" to the pandemic has expanded the opportunities for communication with students — we can say that the university has become closer to its students. Now the student, using messengers, can get advice on any issue of interest

What problems do you see emerging due to the current situation, and, at the same time, what are the prospects for BMSTU in your opinion? Do you think the university will become more open in 2022 or, on the contrary, the requirements will become even tougher? It is especially interesting to find out, what this year will be like for foreign students in Russia in general, and at the BMSTU in particular? What is your forecast for international education for this year?

It is difficult to make any forecasts for 2022, because now we are all going through another wave of increasing disease rate again. Parents of future students are also worried for their children when sending them to study abroad, so we create all conditions in order to prevent the proliferation of new forms of COVID 19.

In turn, including within the framework of the "Priority 2030" project, the university has already begun creating new educational services which include both dual education (contact learning + online learning), and a new approach in educational trajectories — the transition to modular education against the traditional semester-by-semester format. For example, from September 1, 2022, we will launch the master's degree program in English — "Physico-chemical Technologies for Environmental Protection" (Master in Technologies for Environment Protection). This master's program reflects the specifics of the department's scientific activity and is based on the existing material and technical base. It isa combination of such scientific and practical directions implemented at the department as protection of the water and air environment, as well as deep recycling of waste produced by economic facilities. In addition to this program, 6 more educational programs will be launched, the announcements of which will be published on the university's website in April as part of the open day which traditionally takes place on Cosmonautics Day (April 12).

Interviewed by Alexandra Chigodaeva, Copy editor of the Education Export Magazine/