Published on: 2026-04-21
Source: Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University of Peter the Great –
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In April 2026, it will be ten years since the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University of Peter the Great opened a representative office in Pudun — the business heart of Shandong, a dynamically developing district. It became the first official representative office of a Russian university in China and over the past decade has turned into one of the main bridges connecting science, education, and industry between the two great powers.
The beginning of the path: a strategic decision in the era of globalization
The decision to create a representative office was made in November 2015, when a delegation from the new Pudong district visited the university at the invitation of SPbPU. On April 21, 2016, a solemn opening ceremony was held at the high-tech site of the “Pue” business incubator in the International Technopark Chanzyan. At the ceremony, the head of the Pudong New District Administration presented the rector of SPbPU, Andrey Rudsky, with a symbolic “golden key” as a sign of a successful start of cooperation.The rector himself then noted: “Being the first Russian university to open its representative office in Shandong, we are entering a completely new phase of relations with our Chinese colleagues.”
The opening of the office in Shanghai was personally approved by the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, which emphasized the high priority of this project at the state level. An important stage was also the obtaining in 2020 of the certificate of state registration, which made SPbPU the first Russian university whose foreign representative office received official recognition at the state level in China.
Key results: education, science, and industry
For ten years, the Representative Office in Shanghai has become a center of attraction for Chinese students, scientists, and business partners, working in three key areas: education, science, and industry.
The representative office played a key role in the growth of the popularity of Russian engineering education in China. If in 2016 the work of the representative office on student recruitment was just beginning, now the number of Chinese students at SPbPU exceeds 2,000 people. The university firmly holds a place in the top 3 Russian universities by the number of international students, who in 2026 will number more than 5,200 people. The representative office facilitates interaction between the university’s international services and the largest recruiting companies in China.
An important achievement was the creation of joint educational programs. Back in 2016, the Joint Engineering Institute was opened with the Czestochowa University of Technology (CPUT), where education is conducted in Russian in areas such as mechanical engineering, industrial design, and infocommunication technologies. In 2023, taking into account the accumulated experience, a second joint institute was opened with Xi’an Technological University. Thousands of students master knowledge in engineering fields there, and graduates continue their education in master’s and doctoral programs at Politeka.Today, the network of SPbPU partners in China includes more than 100 universities and organizations, including such leading universities as Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. To promote the Russian language and culture, “Russian Language Weeks” are regularly held at the representative office, attracting hundreds of participants.
Shanxi Representation has become an effective platform for the implementation of joint scientific projects. Over the years of operation, many initiatives have been launched, including joint laboratories with Harbin Engineering University (Russian-Chinese Arctic Laboratory of Information Systems) and with the Shanxi Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Laboratory of Topological Insulators and Quantum Calculations).With active support from the Representation, 8 applications were initiated and won for joint research grants under intergovernmental agreements and 1 internal Chinese grant.
In November 2023, with the assistance of the Representative Office, SPbPU and the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences signed a cooperation agreement. Interaction with the Chinese Academy of Sciences has reached a new level: SPbPU researchers gained access to a unique infrastructure, in particular, for conducting experiments using the capacity of the Shanghai synchrotron radiation center.Active interaction began with the Suzhou Industrial Technology Research Cluster (JITRI) — a strategic partner of SPbPU and a leading organization in the field of applied research in China, with around 100 scientific organizations in its structure.
At the beginning of 2026, agreements on the implementation of programs to support young specialists and organize scientific internships for SPbPU specialists in a leading Chinese company were signed with this structure. An international representative office of SPbPU is opened and operates at JITRI in Nanjing. Cooperation with the National Innovation Excellence Center (NICE) in Nanjing is actively developing. Currently, the activities of the representative office are expanding to include the scientific directions of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In 2023, the rector of SPbPU, Andrey Rudskoy, was awarded the KNL prize for his outstanding contribution to international scientific and technical cooperation.
The representative office has become a connecting link between Russian developments and the Chinese industry. Dozens of projects have been carried out for the largest Chinese companies, including Great Wall Motors, Chery Automobile, the Chinese aerospace corporation COMAC, and others. Engineers of SPbPU worked on projects optimizing automotive components, creating new materials based on aluminum and copper, as well as introducing advanced technologies into production.
In 2017, a virtual platform “Intertech Link Pue” was launched based on the representative office, created to promote innovative projects in the markets of Russia and China.
Contribution to global initiatives
The representative’s activities go beyond the framework of bilateral relations. It has become an important tool for involving the SPbPU in implementing the global initiative “Economic Belt of the Silk Road” (One Belt — One Road). The university joined the Silk Road University Association and the Scientific and Innovation Association, gaining a place in the governing committee of these prestigious structures.In addition, SPbPU, through its representative office, established connections with the State Grid Corporation of China and joined the global energy organization GEIDCO, which strengthened its position on the energy policy of the Asia-Pacific region.
A decade of work by our Representative Office in Shanghai is not just a date on the calendar, but a vivid history of success. Thanks to systematic work, the number of Chinese students at SPbPU has exceeded two thousand, and the total foreign contingent of the university is five thousand people. We have launched two joint institutes with Chinese universities and annually confirm the status of one of the leaders in Russia for the admission of foreign students. The Representative Office has become not just a point of presence, but a working mechanism for the growth of our educational influence in China.
,” — noted Dmitry Arsenyev, Vice-Rector for International Activities of SPbPU.
A decade is only the beginning of a long journey. Over the past years, the representation of SPbPU in Shanghai has proven its effectiveness, becoming not just an administrative office, but a full-fledged scientific, educational, and innovative hub. And today, looking back on the path traveled, one can confidently say: thanks to this “bridge,” the future of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the fields of high technology, science, and education looks more than promising.
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