Published on: 2026-09-30
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
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At Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia, the annual All-Russian discussion platform “Best Educational Practices: Training Professionals in the Age of AI” was held as part of the project “University National Initiative for Quality of Education (UNICO).” The event brought together over 400 participants from the country’s leading universities, representatives of the EdTech industry, and the expert community to discuss the transformation of science and higher education amid the rapid development of artificial intelligence. The main day of the discussion platform also became part of the program of the IV annual Summit of Slavic Universities “Slavic Horizon 2026.” Participants represented more than 160 educational and 20 partner organizations from Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and the Republic of Mali.
“Today, the academic community is moving from fear of technologies to their conscious mastery, — emphasized Ludmila Pankova, Vice-Rector for Educational Activities of SPbPU. — Polytech remains an open platform for professional dialogue and dissemination of the best educational practices to overcome barriers in the improvement of the Russian higher education system and to ensure high-quality training of specialists.
The value of the discussion platform lies not only in the exchange of best educational practices but also in the joint search for an answer to the question of what exactly we can consider the best practice today. AI is changing the very educational reality, so discussing and shaping new criteria for the quality of education is especially important,” noted Yulia Emer, Vice-Rector for Information Policy and Digital Communications at Tomsk State University.
The tone of the discussions was set by the problem discussion “Antiplagiarism: slaves of the lamp or masters?” and the joint round table of SPbPU and the Presidential platform “Russia — Land of Opportunities.” Participants in the problem discussion considered the transition from formal originality checks to a conscious academic integrity policy. Experts agreed that technical control cannot replace professional expertise and that universities need new local regulations governing the use of artificial intelligence.
We closely monitor the transformation of the educational agenda and are creating a digital platform where the capabilities of human thinking and artificial intelligence do not compete but reinforce each other. Our goal is to shift the focus from formal evaluation of the final text to a comprehensive analysis of the process of creating the work, where the responsibility for the result always remains with the person, emphasized the Executive Director of JSC Antiplagiat, Evgeny Lukyanchikov.
Participants of the round table discussed labor market expectations for young specialists in the age of AI, the transformation of the competency and motivational profiles of students who will work alongside artificial intelligence, and tried to find an answer to the question “How not to lose the ‘human dimension’?”.
“History is cyclical, and every new technology helps us accelerate and develop ourselves, especially when applied correctly. This is happening now with artificial intelligence, but the most important thing is not to forget about the development of natural intelligence and those very “human” competencies that become a priority in conditions where routine tasks are delegated to AI.“, — summarized Oksana Achkasova, Deputy General Director of the Presidential Platform “Russia — Land of Opportunities.”
At the plenary session “Higher Education in the Era of AI: Syncing Watches,” speakers emphasized that AI has transformed from an experimental tool into a fundamental one, requiring a shift from knowledge control to managing cognitive development, with the teacher becoming the key driving force of academic environment transformation. Thus, the plenary session defined two vectors for further discussions — best practices for applying AI in the educational process and education management, as well as approaches to preserving and enhancing human capital — professional development of teachers in multitasking conditions.
The retention of two focuses that are transforming education — AI as a new reality and the key role of the teacher in the context of the new model of higher education — became the central idea of the discussion platform, noted Marina Ott, head of the department for supporting innovative educational projects at the Institute of Education of Tomsk State University.
All participants of the event were given the opportunity to study in more detail the materials on the issues discussed at the forum and to take a free advanced training course under the program “Practices of Artificial Intelligence Application in Higher Education.”
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