Published on: 2026-09-24
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
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The IV Annual Summit of Slavic Universities “Slavic Horizon 2026” opened at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.
The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the Center for Education Development and International Activities (“Intereducation”), and four universities (in addition to SPbPU): the Russian-Armenian, Belarusian-Russian, Russian-Tajik (Slavic), and Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University named after B. N. Yeltsin. The heads of delegations presented the key elements of development programs for Slavic universities for 2026–2030, after which the participants discussed how to turn these programs into effective educational, scientific, managerial, and youth projects.
For Polytech, the “Slavic Horizon” is not just an annual meeting of partners. With the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, SPbPU performs the role of coordinator for interaction with Slavic universities and helps establish sustainable cooperation mechanisms among them. In recent years, the project has gone beyond individual events: today it includes network programs, semester student mobility, project-based learning, professional development for teachers, joint laboratories, youth engagement, and university infrastructure development.
Opening the summit, SPbPU Rector Andrey Rudskoy emphasized that the current stage holds special significance for the community of Slavic universities. In 2026, the RTsU will celebrate its 30th anniversary, the BPU its 25th anniversary of acquiring interstate status, next year the RAU will turn 30, and in 2028 the KRSU will commemorate its 35th anniversary. These dates, noted the Polytechnic Rector, form the history of a major joint educational project.
The main thing in recent years is that we are gradually moving from individual events to sustainable cooperation mechanisms. Polytech, performing the functions of coordinator for interaction with Slavic universities, sees its task as uniting the competencies of our teams and helping to turn joint initiatives into concrete projects. I am confident that the summit will help identify the main focal points of effort, new partnership formats, and solutions that will be useful to all universities,
The summit participants were welcomed by Marina Kachyan, Head of the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia: “The summit format is in demand: Slavic universities readily come to the Polytechnic for exchange of experience. As for the name “Slavic Horizon,” a horizon is always a striving forward, new opportunities, and the realization that we shape the future together.
The first practical result of the summit was the signing of three bilateral agreements on the network format of implementing educational programs between SPbPU and partner universities. For the “Slavic Universities” project, this is an important step not only because the network training format is expanding, but also because new training areas appear in cooperation with each university, corresponding to its profile and the objectives of the development program.
SPbPU and KRSU are launching a network bachelor’s program in the field of emergency protection. This new direction combines engineering training, safety, risk management, and sustainable territorial development. For KRSU, the program becomes part of a new engineering agenda, while for Polytech it continues work supporting practice-oriented educational projects of partner universities.
“For KRSU, cooperation with Polytechnic is an opportunity to build new educational trajectories together with one of Russia’s strongest engineering universities,— noted the rector of KRSU Sergey Volkov. —The network program in the field of emergency protection is important to us not only as a new area of training but also as a model of practical interaction: with shared responsibility for quality, involvement of teachers, exchange of experience, and focus on real safety and sustainable development challenges.”
The agreement with BRU is dedicated to the bachelor’s program “Equipment and Technology of Welding Production.” This direction is directly related to BRU’s industrial specialization and the engineering competences of SPbPU in the fields of materials, mechanical engineering, and modern production technologies. The network model will enable linking the educational process with the technological base, applied tasks, and personnel training for the real sector.
The third agreement brought SPbPU and RAU together around a networked master’s program in economics. For RAU, this is a logical development of the project and entrepreneurial agenda, which is already being actively implemented with the participation of Polytech. The program is aimed at training specialists capable of working at the intersection of economics, management, technological projects, and international cooperation.
The summit program this year is relevant to the university community: artificial intelligence is becoming not an external technological trend, but part of the real agenda of universities. In his welcome address to the summit participants, Evgeny Pivovar, the scientific director of the Russian State University for the Humanities, noted that artificial intelligence technologies in university processes and education are extremely relevant for the professional communities of Russia and the countries where Slavic universities are present. According to him, the use of AI is becoming one of the drivers for increasing the efficiency of research and teaching work, and the summit provides an opportunity to get acquainted with the experience of colleagues.
The “Slavic Horizon 2026” summit has just begun, and the main discussions are still ahead. But the very first day has already shown the key point: the “Slavic Universities” project is increasingly shifting from a format of partnership meetings to a system of practical solutions. The signed agreements, launch of new training areas, and the overall agenda set a new standard for cooperation—one where education, science, administration, and youth initiatives work together to shape the universities of the future.
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