The University of Tyumen outlines its development program until 2030

Rector of the University of Tyumen Ivan Romanchuk has recently outlined the University development program until 2030.

“‘Priority 2030’, one of the grandest state programs for university support in the history of Russia, has started in 2021 on behalf of the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin. The aim of the program is to form a pool of universities by 2030 – the leaders of scientific-technological and socio-economic development in the country,” Romanchuk stated.

He reminded that, today, 132 higher education institutions from 56 regions of Russia are already participating in the program. Among them, the University of Tyumen has won and continues to participate in competitive selection within the ‘Territorial and/or industry leadership’ track.

“The University is actively transforming into an assembly and testing point for high-tech solutions with subsequent scalability. I would like to note that there are deep change processes underway in our higher education institution, which, first of all, are oriented towards close cooperation with leading industrial partners, government bodies and public organizations,” the rector noted.

He also emphasized that modern approaches to education are at the foundation of the development projects.

“The ‘Priority 2030’ program was launched two years ago. Over this time, we have designed a new version of the educational space based on the individualization of educational trajectories according to the ‘2+2+2’ model; we have significantly expanded the range of educational programs and have become partners with leading Russian universities. The goal we have set is to become the leader in the West Siberian scientific and educational cluster  – and we will definitely achieve it,” Romanchuk clarified. The development of the University of Tyumen, as the University itself states, is focused on five priority strategic projects: ‘Biosafe world’, ‘Ecosystems of the future’, ‘Nature-inspired engineering’, ‘Multi-paradigm education’ and ‘Sustainable macroregional development’.

By implementing these strategic projects, the University contributes significantly to the achievement of national goals for the development of the country – maintenance of the population, health and well-being of the people, digital transformation, a comfortable and safe living environment, etc.

By 2021, the University had already successfully implemented a range of innovation projects in the field of education. For example, the School of Advanced Studies (SAS) was created, the undergraduate program of which features a multiparadigm educational model; the Advanced Engineering School was also created, in partnership with Gazprom Neft, where a new model of engineering education was introduced for the postgraduate level.

The University also features the Institute of Environmental and Agricultural Biology (X-BIO), created back in 2017.

Aside from that, for the first time in Russia, the University of Tyumen transformed its entire educational space based on the principle of individual educational trajectories (IET).

“Currently, the University positions itself as a national leader in creating a unified educational space for all undergraduate programs. In the current academic year, more than 8,000 students study according to the IET principle,” the University’s press office said.

A cloud platform solution has been introduced in the University for organizing and managing the educational process. On the platform, you can find a course catalog and build your educational trajectory based on it; you can view your current schedule and your academic performance, as well as design syllabi.

We would like to note that the conceptual model of the educational space of the University implies the modular implementation of educational programs with postponed major selection. For example, all students enrolled in 2022 now have an opportunity to change their educational program after the second year of their study.

As Nadezhda Fedorova, head of the University’s development program, clarified, already at the end of the first semester, freshmen will be able to freely choose courses to study in the next semester. Electives can range from art history to bioengineering. 

“We strive to make the transition between educational programs as seamless as possible. However, in some cases, students will have to take on an additional ‘summer semester’ to change their program; they will be able to transfer to some programs only after the first year of study. But, these exceptions are not very numerous. If you have enrolled in a socio-humanitarian program – for example, ‘Media Communications’ – then you will be able to transfer to any other program, even ‘Chemistry’, but, after your second year of study, the transfer would be possible only to the other socio-humanitarian programs. However, the University of Tyumen has more than 20 of those,” Fedorova said. 

In general, the educational policy of the University is oriented towards preparing graduates, the profiles of which correspond to the scientific-technological priorities of Russia, as well as the research directions and established expert practices of the University.