A delegation of Lavochkin Research and Production Association, the leading manufacturer of space vehicles for fundamental scientific research visited TSU. Lavochkin Association representatives met with the deans and heads of the TSU’s physics faculties and the staff of the TSU Research Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics to discuss the possibilities of organizing joint educational programmes for postgraduate students and undergraduates. Also, the enterprise intends to admit students for a paid internship and conduct remote retraining of its employees at TSU.
Now Lavochkin Association is implementing a new programme for working with universities and is focusing on working with regional partners. Marina Danilchenko, Deputy Director General for Personnel, said that Lavochkin Association admits to 200 students a year for practice and is extremely interested in increasing that number.
- We are interested in people’s longterm development, plus we would like to work with graduates from different scientific schools to create such a “boiling pot” of ideas. We already have scientific collaboration with TSU, but we would like also to develop and train personnel, - noted Marina Danilchenko. - We are interested not only in engineering specialties, but also in physics, ballistics, materials science, advanced training programmes, and other areas.
Lavochkin Association representatives added that their company is ready to pay for international internships for those students who wish to work for them after graduating from the university. “This is an important point for expanding the research and professional horizons of future employees” – they said.
At the meeting, Vice-rector for Academic Affairs Viktor Demin presented a long-term and successfully operating TSU model for the company Industrial Space Systems. It was created at the Faculty of Physics and Engineering, the undergraduates of which study at TSU for the first year, and in the second, they study and pass pre-diploma practice in Korolev, Moscow Region, directly at the Head Design Bureau of Gazprom Space Systems. The basic courses are read by the teachers of TSU and other universities, and special lecture courses are given by the leading employees of Gazprom Space Systems. Recruitment for the programme is also carried out jointly with the representatives of the partner company.
This model interested the representatives of the Lavochkin Association, and in the near future, the parties will begin to draw up a plan for the preparation of Master’s students. And the first Bachelor’s students will go to practice in Khimki, Moscow Region, where Lavochkin's office is located, most likely in the second semester of this academic year.
Joint-stock company Lavochkin Research and Production Association is a leading enterprise in the rocket and space industry that conducts work on designing, manufacturing, testing, and complex development of key automated space vehicles for basic scientific research. It is working on such projects as Luna-ground, Intergelio-Zond, Arktika-M, and others. Scientists at the TSU Research Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics participated in the Spectrum-UV project.