The concept of Strategic Academic Units (StrAU) was discussed at the meeting of the council and management of the Research Centre of New Materials and Technologies.
TSU is now making a transition to the new educational model, where the main focus is on creating of Strategic Academic Units. The task of each of StrAU is to become a centre for the training of highly qualified personnel of the world level on the basis of advanced research and attracting leading industry companies to this process.
The Research Centre of New Materials and Technologies entered the new StrAU Institute of Smart Materials and Technology (SMTI). The concept of the StrAU was presented at the meeting, also the directions within SMTI were formulated and adopted, and the main topics of these areas discussed.
- Of course, these topics are basically the same as the subjects that are being developed at our centre, - says Irina Kurzina, Director of the Research Centre of New Materials and Technologies. - It is the creation of composite materials and coatings for various purposes, catalysts, sorbents, powdered and polymeric materials, and others. Participation in the StrAU will bring together scientists from different areas for solving common scientific and educational tasks.
Graduate students will take an active part in the research and development projects. New courses will be developed for the Master's programmes in Chemistry, as well as the opening of some new Master's and postgraduate programmes as, for example, Materials and Devices of Functional Electronics, and Physical Fundamentals of Science Intensive Technologies for Preparation and Processing of Materials (Master’s degree).
- The form of an StrAU gives more resources and opportunities for interaction between educational institutions and research laboratories, - says Irina Kurzina. - This is the opening of graduate and postgraduate study based in the leading laboratories and with the ability to attract leading scientists - Russian and international - directly to the preparation of the Master's and PhD students.
The Research Centre of New Materials and Technologies was established in November 2015. The structure of the new centre of excellence included more than a dozen laboratories of the Faculty of Chemistry, Faculty of Physics, Faculty of Radiophysics, SPhTI, Engineering Centre of Chemical Technology (ECCT), and other units of the University. Also, more than 15 Russian and international scientific and educational organizations are its active partners. Representatives of many of them became a part of the council of the Centre, which was headed by RAS academicians Vyacheslav Bouznik (Moscow) and Valentin Parman (Novosibirsk).