Published on: 2026-09-29
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University hosted a delegation of schoolchildren from the Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The visit took place as part of the “International Youth Shifts” project, which is being implemented in St. Petersburg on the initiative of Governor Alexander Beglov.
The project is aimed at developing youth exchanges and promoting Russian higher education among foreign schoolchildren and students. Its distinctive feature is that it is not just a sightseeing introduction to the city, but an immersion in the university environment: participants visit leading universities in Saint Petersburg, learn about educational programs, scientific infrastructure, student organizations, and opportunities for future admission.
Thanks to the project, Polytech was able to show foreign youth the engineering university “from the inside” — through its history, modern laboratories, supercomputer technologies, cyber-physics, construction and technospheric fields, as well as the vibrant student environment.
The visit began at the Polytechnic Museum. The chief curator of the collections, Leonid Tokar, conducted a two-hour tour for the schoolchildren. The guests learned about the history of the university, the names of outstanding scientists and engineers, the scientific schools of the Polytechnic, and the university’s contribution to the development of Russian industry, energy, transportation, materials science, and engineering education.
At the Technopolis Polytech Science and Innovation Complex, schoolchildren visited the Supercomputer Center “Polytechnic.” The Deputy Head of the SCC Management, Evgeny Petukhov, demonstrated that behind the word “supercomputer” are not abstract calculations but concrete engineering tasks: modeling complex processes, processing large data sets, digital twins, and computations without which designing new materials, machines, buildings, and technological systems today is impossible.
In the laboratories of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport, guests saw another side of engineering — working with materials, equipment, and industrial technologies. Maksim Zamozdra, a researcher at the Laboratory of Lightweight Materials and Structures, explained how solutions for modern production are created at the Polytechnic: from studying material properties to technologies demanded in mechanical engineering, transport, and high-tech industries.
At the Engineering and Construction Institute, schoolchildren were introduced to training programs related to construction, infrastructure, and technosphere safety. Assistants Alexander Mitin and Tatyana Zhitnikova, as well as Anastasia Dzhur, an admissions office staff member for the “Technosphere Safety” program at the ECI, worked with the guests.
The VR laboratory of ISI sparked particular interest among the schoolchildren. They were shown how virtual reality technologies help simulate dangerous situations, teach safe behavior, and prepare professionals to work with real engineering and infrastructure risks. This format allowed the students to see that modern engineering education is built not only on lectures and calculations but also on digital simulators, practical scenarios, and working with situations as close to reality as possible.
“For future applicants, it is especially important to see what the chosen field looks like in practice. Technospheric safety is not an abstract discipline, but work with real risks, technologies for protecting people and infrastructure, and modern digital tools. VR formats help schoolchildren literally ‘immerse’ themselves in the profession and understand the tasks that specialists in this field solve.” — noted Alexander Mitin.
At the educational and scientific center “Polytech-Cyberphysics,” the conversation shifted from materials and structures to systems that can “sense,” analyze, and control. The center’s director, Vyacheslav Potekhin, showed the students how sensors, automation, digital models, robotics, and artificial intelligence are connected—precisely at this intersection today, the professions of the future are being formed for those interested in electronics, control, and intelligent technologies.
The program concluded with an introduction to the student and international community of Polytech. At the PolyUnion Interclub, Serbian schoolchildren met with students who are already studying at SPbPU. A special guest of the meeting was Efimia Mia Stevanovich from Belgrade, a second-year master’s student at the Humanities Institute (program “Translation Technologies and Intercultural Mediation”). She told the schoolchildren about her experience studying at Polytech, adapting in Saint Petersburg, communication with teachers, and student life.
When you come to study in another country, it is very important to feel that the university is not just about classes, but also about people, support, communication, and the opportunity to find your place. I told the students how studying is organized at Polytech, how adaptation takes place, what foreign students are involved in, and why Saint Petersburg can become for them not just a city of study, but a real student environment, she emphasized.
A meeting was held in the multifunctional auditorium “Space of Nations” with Evgenia Borodina, a specialist from the international educational programs and academic mobility department. The students learned how to apply to Polytechnic, what opportunities are available for foreign applicants, and how to start their journey at the university.
According to representatives of SPbPU, such programs help foreign school students to see Russian higher education from the inside and make a more informed choice of their future educational trajectory.
Vice-Rector for International Activities Dmitry Arsenyev noted: It is important for us that the introduction to Polytechnic is not a formal tour. We show foreign schoolchildren the university as a living environment: a museum and traditions, modern laboratories, supercomputer technologies, engineering solutions, an international student community. It is this kind of immersion that helps to understand that engineering education in Russia is an opportunity to participate in real technological projects.
The visit of Serbian schoolchildren became part of extensive work on developing international youth exchanges. For Politekh, such meetings are also a contribution to promoting Russian engineering education: future applicants see the university not through brochures, but through people, laboratories, history, student life, and real scientific and technological challenges. This experience helps build long-term interest in studying in Saint Petersburg and strengthens humanitarian ties between the youth of Russia and Serbia.
Please note; This information is raw content received directly from the source of information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.