A whole class of promising specialists for Russian industry will now study at the SUSU Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, founded in cooperation with KONAR group of companies. The new faculty is located on the first floor of the West wing of the university's main academic building.
In June 2024, an agreement on the creation of a unique Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Technology was signed at South Ural State University between the university Rector Alexander Wagner and General Director of AO KONAR Valery Bondarenko. The enterprises of KONAR group manufacture products for the oil and gas and power engineering industries, shipbuilding, industrial and civil construction in Russia.
The faculty was established on the mutual initiative of the partners with the aim of forming the human engineering potential for KONAR company and Russian industry. The main mission of the new faculty will be the implementation of educational programmes designed for the production tasks of the industrial group.
Educational programmes, being unique for our region and Russia, have completely new content and are based on the scientific knowledge of SUSU and the accumulated experience of the KONAR team.
The areas of mechanical engineering and related technologies will become key at the faculty of the same name. All specialties offered to students are strategic for KONAR: Robotics and Welding Engineering; Automation and Engineering of Metal Forming; Digital Mechanical Engineering Technologies; Metal Science, Heat Treatment and Physical Chemistry of Materials; Systems Engineering of Metallurgical Technologies.
The teaching staff will consist of experienced SUSU employees who will undergo training in special educational programmes at the Skolkovo Innovation Centre; some of the disciplines and practical training will be taught by KONAR employees, as well as invited teachers from leading technical universities from Russia and abroad.
The unique faculty will be headed by two deans at once: a young scientist, Candidate of Sciences (Engineering) Pavel Gamov will act on behalf of the university; and General Director of AO KONAR Valery Bondarenko, who was awarded the title of "Honorary Professor of South Ural State University" at the grand opening, will act on behalf of the enterprise.
The new faculty provides full-time and part-time education on an exclusively state-funded basis. It provided one hundred and six free places in five specialties in its first year of existence.
Students will have practical classes under the guidance of experienced mentors, paid internship and career tracks at KONAR from the first year of study, as well as serious language training - studying technical English and Chinese for better integration into international industrial relations. In addition, it is planned to organize visits of students to leading enterprises of the Russian Federation, and employment of graduates of the new engineering faculty is guaranteed by the company.
In addition, students of the SUSU Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Technology can count on significant social support: a personal scholarship from KONAR (in addition to the university scholarship), bonuses for winning competitions and championships, compensation for rent for out-of-towners, branded clothing, bonuses for participation in research activities, free sports and health programs.
The ceremonial opening of the SUSU Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Technology was attended by the Governor of our region Alexey Texler. Together with the Rector of the university and the General Director of the industrial group, they cut the red ribbon and gave a congratulatory speech.
"The combined efforts of the university and the industrial partner give a wonderful result," said Alexey Texler, Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region. "Today, a little more than a hundred guys, young and active, have crossed the threshold of the new faculty, and I have no doubt that this is the future elite. The future elite of our industry, which will strengthen our technological sovereignty, will not only engage in import substitution, but will outpace all the best world analogues in the field in which they will work. I have no doubt about this, especially when there are such powerful partners as KONAR group of companies. Therefore, I am very glad that we have been opening new faculties with our enterprises for the second day in a row. And I would like to thank the Rector of South Ural State University, who is actively involved in this process. And, of course, when we talk now about the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, I want to thank the head of KONAR group of companies, Valery Bondarenko."
Valery Bondarenko, CEO of AO KONAR, also addressed the first-year students of the new mechanical engineering faculty:
"Now you are entering one of the most wonderful periods of life − student life. You must absorb new unique knowledge every day within the walls of the university. After all, in five years, having come to production, and after several years of practice, you will begin to outcompete us in a good sense, which will be the best indicator of the effectiveness of the interaction between the university and the company. And in fifteen to twenty years, it is you who will determine the engineering and technological policy not only of our enterprise, but also of our city and the entire country. I say this consciously, because today we have seven hundred graduates from South Ural State University working for us, and more than seventy percent of all managerial technical and administrative positions are occupied by them. And I am sure that with you this percentage will become even greater. For our part, we will make every effort to make it as comfortable, interesting and useful for you, students, to study at the SUSU Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Technology as possible."
KONAR company has completed the renovation of the West wing of the university main building: today, lecture halls, laboratories, a teaching staff room, a foyer, a recreational and coworking area, as well as a buffet and a cloakroom are fully equipped and furnished. A design project was developed specifically for the new study space, in accordance with which the new design was made.
"Today, a very important event is really happening, because in a sense we are reviving the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, from which today's South Ural State University once began," said SUSU Rector Alexander Wagner. "This is a legendary faculty that gave the industry a large number of the best engineers, graduates, managers of various levels, showing them in practice and as owners of large innovative enterprises. Today, the grand opening of the new faculty is a big holiday for this entire community, for students, for those who graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Technology. And what is being created today is not done for nothing. There is really a lot of meaning in each programme, in educational processes, in the premises, in the life that you will live during your studies. And all this is imbued with a strong spirit. The spirit of the successful KONAR industrial group, the thoughts, the involvement of Valery Bondarenko, to whom the university is grateful for long-term and effective cooperation."
Already today, the work jointly with industrial partners, leading universities and research centres of our country is underway to form promising educational programmes aimed at designing new disciplines in demand for SUSU. For this purpose, the university's academic staff is already undergoing training in the best schools and institutes in Russia.