Published on: 2026-05-21
Source: Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University of Peter the Great –
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Saint Petersburg State Polytechnic University of Peter the Great became the winner of the competitive selection by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation for the implementation of an additional educational program in space, satellite, and engineering technologies.
SPbPU’s victory in the competitive selection confirms the high level of development of the university’s supplementary professional education system and its demand for solving the country’s technological development tasks. It is especially significant that the Polytechnic University became one of the winners specifically in the category of supplementary professional education as a university with practical experience in creating flexible educational models for high-tech sectors, having a competent managerial, engineering, and professor-teacher team, as well as a well-established system of interaction with industrial and sectoral partners.
It is precisely the mechanisms of additional professional education today that make it possible to adapt the training content in a short time to new technological challenges, quickly form relevant engineering competencies, and provide personnel training for the tasks of the high-tech sector of the economy.
The selection was conducted by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation within the framework of the federal project “Personnel for Space” of the national project to ensure technological leadership “Development of Space Activities of the Russian Federation for the Period until 2030 and with a Perspective until 2036.” It is aimed at forming a system for training highly qualified specialists for the rocket and space industry, developing engineering competencies, and ensuring the personnel potential of Russia’s technological sovereignty.
The strategic goal of the project is the training of specialists capable of working with modern space, satellite, and engineering technologies: from applied research and digital modeling to the creation of advanced space systems and complexes. Today, the space industry is directly related to the development of communications, navigation, unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, digital engineering, and other areas that define the technological independence of the state.
For Politech to participate in the “Personnel for Space” project means the university’s involvement in forming a national framework for training personnel for one of the country’s most strategically significant sectors. Today, space is an end-to-end technological platform that unites advanced engineering, digital technologies, new generation materials, and high-tech manufacturing.The Ministry of Education possesses unique competencies for building a modern personnel training system — from fundamental engineering education to flexible models of additional professional education for current industry specialists. We consider participation in the project as a long-term task to form a personnel base for Russia’s technological leadership in the space sector,” emphasized Dmitry Tsyonov, Vice-Rector for Additional and Pre-University Education at SPbPU.
As a result of the consideration of applications, SPbPU entered the list of winning organizations, among which are also the Moscow Aviation Institute, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, MSTU “STANKIN”, Baltic State Technical University “VOENMEH” named after D. F. Ustinov, Siberian State University of Science and Technology named after Academician M. F. Reshetnev.
It is indicative that SPbPU has been included in this list alongside the country’s specialized aviation and aerospace and engineering-technical universities. This emphasizes the high level of the educational and engineering ecosystem of the Polytechnic, as well as the effectiveness of its model of additional professional education for high-tech industries.
Based on the winning organizations, additional educational programs and internships will be implemented for students, administrative and managerial personnel, faculty members, and scientific and pedagogical workers in the field of space, satellite, and engineering technologies.
In the SPbPU program, the Directorate of Additional Education and Industry Partnership will be implemented jointly with the Higher School of Applied Physics and Space Technologies of the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications, as well as with the university’s scientific centers and network partners. This model allows combining fundamental scientific training, engineering expertise, and practice-oriented educational solutions for the real demands of the industry.The SPbPU cluster not only provides specialist training but also accelerates the transfer of relevant technological solutions and engineering practices into the educational environment.
The Higher School of Applied Physics and Space Technology of SPbPU already has significant experience in the implementation of scientific research and engineering projects in the space field. The division participates in the development of advanced technologies and scientific solutions for the space industry, as well as in projects for the creation and support of small spacecraft and satellite platforms.Among the implemented areas are the development of space systems, applied research, digital modeling, as well as participation in federal and international scientific and educational initiatives related to space technologies and engineering.
A separate direction of work is the participation of SPbPU in the Space-P program, a project for the creation and launch of small satellites, as well as the development of its own space apparatus. The university already has practical experience in preparing satellite platforms for orbital deployment, which forms a unique environment for the integration of science, engineering training and continuing professional education in the interest of high-tech industries.
The Higher School of Applied Physics and Space Technology has been consistently developing research and engineering projects in the space sector over the past years, including the development of satellite platforms, participation in small spacecraft programs, and the implementation of applied research for promising industry directions.It is especially important for us that the participation of SPbPU in the federal project “Personnel for Space” allows us to combine scientific activity, engineering training, and modern mechanisms of additional professional education into a unified framework for personnel training and technological development,” noted Alexander Gelgort, director of the Higher School of Applied Physics and Space Technologies.
The practical experience of Politechnika in implementing space and satellite projects, the presence of scientific schools, engineering infrastructure, and proprietary developments form the basis for creating a modern system for training personnel for high-tech industries. At the university, a model is consistently built that unites scientific research, engineering training, project activities, and additional professional education into a single framework for personnel training and technological development.
Special attention within the project will be paid to the formation of a comprehensive framework for additional professional education for the space and high technology sector — from short qualification upgrade modules to practice-oriented programs and internship tracks in cooperation with industry partners. An important direction will be the development of network interaction with enterprises and scientific organizations, as well as the formation of flexible educational trajectories that allow for the quick adaptation of program content to changing technological challenges of the industry.In recent years, Politec has formed a sustainable DPO model focused on fast program design for the tasks of industry and the high-tech sector. It is this experience, as well as close interaction between the Directorate of Continuing Education and Industry Partnership with the Higher School of Applied Physics and Space Technologies, the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of SPbPU, and industrial partners, that became one of the key factors in the university’s victory in the federal selection,” noted Ivan Kurta, head of the Directorate of Continuing Education and Industry Partnership at SPbPU.
The “Personnel for Space” project is forming a new model for training specialists for Russia’s high-tech industries, in which additional professional education becomes one of the key tools for shaping Russia’s personnel and technological sovereignty.
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