SSTU Celebrates 75^th Birthday

by

Dr. Olga Dolinina
Director, Office of International Relations
Saratov State Technical University
Saratov, Russia

One of the biggest Russian institutions of higher education, Saratov State Technical University (www.sstu-edu.com) celebrated its 75th anniversary from during October 5 – 8, 2005. Over 100 special events took place on campus during this occasion. Among them were competitions of students’ research reports, newspapers of faculties, sport festival, students’ disco, and great faculty seminars and workshops.

Saratov State Technical University (SSTU) is one of the largest educational and scientific centers in the Volga region of the Russian Federation. SSTU is a leading, dynamic academic institutions that offers a wide range of educational programs. The official rating of the Russian Ministry of Education ranks SSTU as one of the top 12 universities among 164 technical and technological universities of the Russian Federation.

The history of the University dates back to the 1930s when it was founded as the Automobile & Road Construction Institute. In 1969 the Saratov Auto-Road Institute was renamed as Saratov Polytechnical Institute. In 1992, the institute was renamed Saratov State Technical University.

Today SSTU is a unique educational - research complex with 89 academic departments, 16 faculties, 5 educational-research centers and 4 institutes. More than 1100 academic staff members work there. SSTU has about 25000 students including undergraduates, postgraduates and international students.

The University takes pride in the outstanding role that its alumni have played in development of the country, the region and the city of Saratov. SSTU staff was especially pleased that a good number of the graduates took part in 75^th anniversary celebrations.

The culmination of the extended holiday was the formal anniversary celebration at the Drama Theatre in the city center on the October 6. The rector of SSTU, Yuri Chebotarevsky, received a personal message of congratulations from the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. The staff of SSTU received congratulations from the Governor of the Saratov Region, Pavel Ipatov, who stressed the important place of the University in the industry and economics of the Saratov region. The Rector of Moscow State University, who is also the President of the Russian Union of Rectors, Viktor Sadovnichy, also took part in that special celebration. His delivered remarks focused on the significant role of universities in everyday life in society. Also delivering congratulatory greetings were: deputies of the State and regional Dumas (the Parliament), representatives of the President’s Administration and of the various Ministries, directors of industrial enterprises, and social organizations.

The grand moment was also shared by international guests from the USA, Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Portugal and the former Soviet Republics, including: Belarus, Armenia and Kazakhstan.

Another of the special event was the International Advanced Research Workshop “IMPLEMENTING INNOVATION POLICY IN DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING MARKET ECONOMIES: NATIONAL, REGIONAL ASPECTS AND PERSPECTIVES,” which took place from October 6-8 at Saratov State Technical University. This was also a follow up to the Saratov-iNEER International Engineering Education Partnership Workshop held last year. The 2005 Workshop started with the greetings by the Rector of Moscow State University, Viktor Sadovnichy. The Governor of Saratov Region Pavel Ipatov delivered a paper entitled: “Innovation Situation and Prospects of Innovative Economy in the Saratov Region.”

Professor Win Aung (USA), the General-Secretary of iNEER and Senior Staff Associate – Engineering Education of the U.S. National Science Foundation, discussed the role of engineers’ education in innovations. The Vice Rector of Silesian Technological Institute, Prof. Jerzy Moscinski (Poland), described the importance of international relations among educational authorities in the modern process of globalization. Mr. M. Vernet from France, the coordinator of a joint TEMPUS project, touched upon the significance of continuing education. The dean of Economics Faculty of the University of Stuttgart (Germany), Dr. U. Arnold, spoke about perspectives of international cooperation between European universities and universities in Russia. Dr. E. De Sousa Ferreira (Portugal) spoke about the role of Portuguese universities in the innovation process.

Many rectors of Russian universities came to Saratov to extend the personal greetings to SSTU and to participate in the International Advanced Research Workshop “IMPLEMENTING INNOVATION POLICY IN DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING MARKET ECONOMIES: NATIONAL, REGIONAL ASPECTS AND PERSPECTIVES.” Among them were: the rector of Nizhney Novgorod State University, R.G. Strongin; the rector of Volgograd State Technical University, I.A. Novakov; the rector of Voronezh State Architecture – Civil-Building University, I.S. Surovtzev; the rector of Ulyanovsk State Technical University; the rector of Samara State Economic Academy, A.P. Zhabin; the rector of Perm State Technical University, V.Yu. Petrov; the rector of Orel State Technical University, V.A. Golenkov; the rector of Astrakhan State Technical University, Yu.T. Pimenov; the rector of Ivanovo State Electric - Power University, V.N. Nuzhdin. were among guests and participants of the International Workshop. Universities represented by their vice rectors include: Ufa State Aviation Technical University; Tver State University; Kabardino-Balkarian State University; Penza State University; Volgograd State University; Ural State Technical University; Samara State Technical University; and Zapadno-Kazakhstan Technical University (Kazakhstan).

The SSTU anniversary celebrations and the International Advanced Research Workshop attracted the attention of a great number of directors and chief engineers of industrial enterprises who were SSTU graduates, and there were much reminiscences about their student years with sincere delight and affection.

Students and staff of SSTU staged a staggering concert following the anniversary ceremony. The concert program traced the history of the University.

Faculty members and students will remember the celebrations of the 75^th birthday of SST for a long time to come.