B.N. Khristenko Laboratory Complex and a Renovated Indoor Athletic Stadium Open at SUSU

On August 31st, right before the Knowledge Day, South Ural State University presented its upgraded infrastructure. This day, the laboratories of B.N. Khristenko Complex of Active Teaching Methods were opened. President of the Business Council of the Eurasian Economic Union, Chairman of the SUSU Supervisory Council Viktor Khristenko took part in the festive events. An important event was also the presentation of the university’s improved indoor athletic stadium.

SUSU Rector Aleksandr Shestakov shared on the importance of developing the university’s scientific-and-educational and sports base, and on how this influences the quality of training the future specialists.

“Today, we are opening two laboratories of active teaching methods named after Boris Khristenko. He became a pioneer in this field on the scale of the whole Soviet Union. Today, the education system is actively changing, but the active teaching methods (when students not only attend lectures and participate in seminars, but also do work on their own, make their decisions and model situations) are extremely important for improving the quality of education. These days, Boris Khristenko would have celebrated his 100th birthday anniversary, and we believe it to be important to continue and develop the work he started back in the times when the university was called Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute. We also remember that SUSU graduates need to be health, so right before September 1st we are presenting the renovated university sports complex, where many champions trained, and this is yet another accomplishment with which we are greeting the new academic year.”

At the SUSU School of Economics and Management the festive presentation was held for two new laboratories included into B.N. Khristenko Laboratory Complex of Active Teaching Methods: Teaching Bank, and Financial Technology in Business. An outstanding teacher Boris Khristenko, an alumnus of the Engineering and Construction Institute of Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute (now SUSU), later worked in his Alma Mater implementing the active methods of teaching students, and became the head of the-first-in-the-USSR laboratory of business games.

The son of Boris Khristenko, also an alumnus of Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute, President of the Business Council of the Eurasian Economic Union, Chairman of the SUSU Supervisory Council Viktor Khristenko took part in opening ceremony. He noted on the fast-paced development of the university over the recent years and stressed the necessity to use active methods of teaching.

“Already back in the moment of its establishment SUSU was a key university in the Soviet Union, and it has preserved and enhanced its importance. The university is sensible of new trends and of requirements to its graduates and the system of education. SUSU is constantly searching for the ways how to best meet the challenges of the labour market. And I guess the most important thing is that the university managed to build a system, which is ready to constantly improve. SUSU has many accomplishments, and all of them result from the university’s ability to be ahead of the times. Speaking of the laboratories, we need to stress that students who graduate from the university must have certain skills. And to obtain those, they need quality training on real models, tied to functioning commercial, financial and other institutions, the organization of the activity of which is best understood in the format of such active training as business games.”

The new laboratories feature modern interior and state-of-the art equipment, required to reconstruct the real production processes. The Financial Technology in Business Laboratory was established for the purpose of creating a platform for training specialists capable of working in the conditions of global digitalization of economy. Here, business games and interactive seminars can be held for students. The Teaching Bank makes it possible to perform any banking transaction in a training mode. The major banks of our region partnering with our university, such as Sberbank, VTB Bank and Russian Agricultural Bank, assisted in the organization of this laboratory.

“These are interactive educational platforms, which will be used in the educational process at the School of Economics and Management. The main advantage of our teaching laboratories is that we narrow the gap between the theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Therefore, our graduates will be more competitive in the labour market. In the Financial Technology in Business Laboratory students will be able to use real statistical bases to compile financial reports and forecast the development of a certain enterprise. The Teaching Bank is a bank division, where students will be studying the work of employees in all bank departments, and working in real software products operated in the leading banks in our region. Not only our teachers, but also staff of enterprises and banks of Chelyabinsk will be involved in the educational process,” shared Director of the SUSU School of Economics and Management Irina Saveleva.

This day, results were announced for the Economics and Finances in Technological Development of Russia All-Russian Science-to-practice Conference held on the occasion of B.N. Khristenko 100th Birthday Anniversary. The winners were awarded their certificates personally by Viktor Khristenko and Deputy Head of the SUSU Department of Financial Technology Igor Baev, who also became the supervisor of the new laboratories of the School of Economics and Management.

The SUSU Educational and Sports Complex held the ceremony of opening a renovated indoor athletic stadium. It became possible to improve the sports infrastructure thanks to our university’s partner, ChelPipe; and its Chairman of the Board of Directors Aleksandr Fedorov took part in this ceremony.

“We have a long history of relations with SUSU. We have an approximately thirty-years-lasting agreement on scientific collaboration; the university staff and students are involved in solving many production tasks and problems existing in the ChelPipe’s production processes. We also have an agreement on staff training. Here we see high-technology equipment, with science involved, and we see the full digitalization of sports. We really enjoyed taking part in renovating the indoor athletic stadium so that we could then recruit competent and health engineers!”

With the support from the SUSU partners, the indoor athletic stadium transformed completely: the race track coating was completely replaced; the tennis courts were equipped with special automated nets, and a ball launcher gun was purchased; the boxing zone was fitted with new punching balls and other equipment; and two new climbing wall routes were opened. Also, sports equipment in the weight-lifting gym hall was upgraded.

“Every year, the SUSU Institute of Sport, Tourism and Service opens new sports spaces. This is a continuous movement forwards, which will be of use not only for our students, but also for the university in general, as well as for Chelyabinsk, the Chelyabinsk Region and the Ural Federal District. Re-equipment of the indoor athletic stadium and the weight-lifting gym hall is an important event, which stimulate going in for sports at a professional level. Here, both our team and all those willing can train for their competitions in a special way, using international-standards equipment,” shared Director of the SUSU Institute of Sport, Tourism and Service Vadim Ehrlich.

Intellectual Capital exhibition, which is held every year just before September 1st, was organized in the hall of the SUSU’s main building. Intellectual Capital exhibits publications created by the university academic and administrative staff and released in the 2018-2019 academic year. What is more, the exhibition also demonstrated Bulletin of the South Ural State University journal (all series) being published at the university. Three journals: Bulletin of the South Ural State University. Series Mathematical Modelling Programming Computer Software; Human. Sport. Medicine; and Supercomputing Frontiers and Innovations are included into Scopus and Web of Science international scientometric databases. Scientific papers are also being published in English, Chinese, Spanish, German, and other languages. The total of over 160 monographs, educational materials and books were exhibited.

“This is a traditional exhibition, to which we prepare every year, collecting new literature together with the Publishing Centre. At this exhibition, we demonstrate the printed papers by the SUSU professors and staff to our students and freshmen. We hope that the exhibited educational materials will help students in their educational process,” noted Svetlana Smolina, Director of the SUSU Library.

“Art Needs Walls” modern culture festival was held on the territory of the university Campus within the frameworks of the festivities. This is a new-for-Chelyabinsk format aimed at stimulating creativity initiatives of students. The idea of holding this festival was born at SUSU and got support from the Department for Youth Affairs of the City of Chelyabinsk and the Chelyabinsk Region Ministry of Education. At this festival, a renovated Student Centre was presented, the outer walls of which had been decorated with a colourful graffiti.

“We’re happy that SUSU students will now have a place of their own. The Student Centre has become a real point of attraction for all enthusiastic, active and creative individuals; and little time after creating this Centre, we came up with an idea of decorating its building’s facade. We wanted to make it a bit brighter, more distinctive and closer to all students,” noted SUSU Vice-Rector for Student Affairs Vyacheslav Burmatov. “We’re grateful to Aleksandr Shestakov that he supported this initiative, as well as to the Administration of the City of Chelyabinsk, the university’s structural subdivisions, and the SUSU Trade Union Committee – thanks to the fact that we joined our efforts, we managed to do it all. We hope that this project will become an investment into our future, and that in this newly decorated place people will want to create in a new way as well.”

The festivities continued with a general meeting of the university academic and administrative staff, and students, as well as a concert on the occasion of the 2019 Matriculation Ceremony.