A new international bachelor program presented at TSU

10 July 2019

The Open Doors Day of the international bachelor’s program Tomsk International Science Program (TISP) was held at TSU. TISP was developed by TSU in collaboration with Maastricht University (Netherlands) and is an English-taught interdisciplinary bachelor’s program, unique in Russia, in physics and mathematical and natural sciences.

The program was presented by the director of TISP, professor at TSU and MU Herman Kingma.

- Why do I need a diploma if I do not get a job afterward? It is very important to organize training that focuses on forming knowledge and developing skills and abilities that are necessary for life and a future career. Application- and practice-oriented education allow students to be engaged in solving complex interdisciplinary and real-life situations. Such an educational approach builds teamwork skills in intercultural groups that are organized on the principles of self-management and interdisciplinary bonds - said Herman Kingma.

TISP provides students with choice and the responsibility for their own education. Depending on their interests and level of study, under the guidance of a tutor, students can choose various courses in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and other interdisciplinary subjects, such as neuroscience. Students develop projects to solve real-life problems, which helps them to absorb new knowledge and develop soft skills quickly and effectively. After the first year, students are able to determine their own learning path - choose the main track and the major and minor educational modules, and decide which online courses they want to take.


Lectures will be delivered by leading international experts: Thomas Cleij, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Engineering Sciences of Maastricht University, Terrence Vincent Callaghan, a professor at TSU and the University of Sheffield, an outstanding researcher, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for studying climate change issues, and others.

At the Open Day, the graduates of Tomsk International Science Honors Program presented their projects. The first team offered to organize healthy food in vending machines located in university buildings - fewer sandwiches and less sugar, more nutrition bars and yogurts. The second team offered to recycle the garbage into ink for a 3D printer.

- There are students from Russia, India, and Indonesia in the group, we decided to work with plastic because we want the environment to be clean, - said Sahat Gokma Tua, a TSU student from Indonesia. We want to encourage people to sort the garbage, and we have created an extruder for processing plastic waste into 3D printing ink. In the future, if this project is successful, we will collaborate with large Russian chain store systems such as Abrikos and Magnet.

Seeing the results of the first year, the experts and the graduates of the program consider the problem-based method a very effective approach in current higher education.

For more information please visit the following website.