Today our university is hosting the III Conference of the Association of Rectors of Transport Universities BRICS. It brings together more than a hundred participants from Russia, China, India, Ethiopia, UAE, Brazil, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia.

Among the core issues were the training of engineers for the BRICS transportation industry, human capital development, and joint projects. About 30 reports were presented.

This year the BRICS Business Council Subgroup on Transport and Logistics was launched at the suggestion of Russian Railways. One of its activities is master classes of the BRICS Transport Academy, which was created to train engineers and improve the competencies of those who already work in the industry. Among the active participants is PGUPS.

Rector of PGUPS Oleg Valinsky noted that the main thing is the synchronization of programs. By the way, the experience that our university will gain from participation in the Advanced Engineering School PGUPS «ISKRA», can be applied in the implementation of projects with partners from other countries.

Our university’s longtime friends are industry universities in China. From the middle of spring to the beginning of summer our professors held lectures, classes and meetings with colleagues from Nanjing, Xi’an and Hunan transportation universities. They have recently returned from a business trip and are now sharing their experiences and observations gained abroad.

Shen Zhiwei, vice president of Xi’an Jiaotong Transportation University, told the conference that the university is now actively cooperating with 20 Russian universities and has 26 areas of collaboration. He also noted that the university ranks among the 10 best higher educational institutions in China. To meet the spirit of the time, they has organized a Scientific and Technical Information Hub, which works at the intersection of production, tasks important to the government, financial direction and research. There are also mechanisms of interaction between the university, students and industrial partners, similar to ours — for example, a business incubator.

After the reports and their discussion, the conference participants signed declarations «On joining the BRICS Association of Transport Universities» and bilateral cooperation agreements.

We would like to remind you that the first time such conference was held at PGUPS in 2018, when the «Association of Rectors of Transport Universities BRICS» was established, which included representatives from Russia, Brazil, India, China and the Republic of South Africa. The second time, next year, the participants met in Pretoria and Johannesburg (South Africa).

Maria Chizhova