Published on: 2026-07-10
Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering –
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Ivan Fedotov, Igor Chernyaev (center), and students at the car handover ceremony
The active stance of the management of JSC “AvtoVAZ” led by the president by Maksim Sokolov It sets the vector for systemic support of engineering schools. Attention is given not only to attracting talented young people to the company, but also to creating conditions for their professional development at the early stages of education.
Confirmation of this course was the gratuitous transfer, as part of a partnership between the company and the university, of a LADA Granta car to the Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering for the needs of student engineering projects at the automotive and road faculty.
The flagship project, for which the delivered vehicle is intended as a technical base, is the student car project “Roadster Crimea.” In 2020, an agreement was signed between SPbGASU and the Interuniversity Student Engineering and Technology Corporation cooperation agreement regarding the implementation of this and other projects, and now this alliance is gaining new momentum for development.
The essence of the project lies in students independently mastering the full cycle of design and individual (prospectively – small-scale) production of a vehicle, the results of which will be their own design solutions, design documentation, and assembled prototype. This fully fits into the concept interdisciplinary project-based learning, actively developed at SPbGASU.
The Automotive and Road Faculty of our university has built up a foundation for project implementation – a training and production site has been established as part of the Krasnoye Selo Training Base, reverse engineering technologies based on 3D scanning have been developed, a three-coordinate CNC milling machine intended for manufacturing full-scale molds for body parts production has been put into operation, and the university auto club possesses significant experience in technical solutions; the load-bearing frame has been transferred by the Inter-University Student Engineering and Technology Corporation. All this became possible thanks to the systematic support of the university management and the direct involvement of the Vice-Rector for Educational Activities. Sergey Mikhaylov.
The receipt of the vehicle from JSC “AvtoVAZ”, the ceremonial handover of which took place at the site in Krasnoye Selo on July 9, takes the project to the next level, significantly contributing to its material support.
The car was handed over by the head of the AVTOVAZ Engineering Center in St. Petersburg, a distinguished designer of Russia, from JSC “AVTOVAZ” Ivan Fedotov.
SPbGASU has been cooperating with the Engineering Center since its establishment in 2023. The university receives informational and methodological support, and the center’s experts participate in independent qualification assessments within GIA-NOC project. About a dozen students and graduates of SPbGASU work in the Engineering Center team, several of whom successfully defended their master’s theses this summer, including on topics proposed by the center.
Ivan Fedotov highly appreciated the proactive approaches to engineering education at SPbGASU, confirmed the intention to continue cooperation, outlined its promising directions, and expressed readiness to continue sharing experience with the university’s young specialists.
Head of the Department of Technical Operation of Vehicles, Candidate of Technical Sciences Igor Chernyaev conveyed gratitude for the contribution to the material support of project activities and expressed confidence that the established cooperation will contribute to improving the quality of graduate training.
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