Kazan Federal University and China University of Petroleum (East China) started working together

An online meeting was held at the Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies of Kazan Federal University with representatives of China University of Petroleum, during which educational programs and research internships were discussed under the new Memorandum of Understanding.

Last month, Vice-Rector for Research at Kazan Federal University, Director of the Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies Danis Nourgaliev and Vice-Rector for International Affairs of China Petroleum University (Huadong) Yao Jun signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the two universities.

“Given the cultural relations between our countries, recognizing the importance of academic exchanges, including teaching and research, as well as taking the opportunity to strengthen professional academic contacts between our organizations, the Parties agreed to sign this MOU in order to establish, develop and expand cooperation in the field of educational, scientific and contractual activities,” the Memorandum says.

The goal of mutually beneficial cooperation is to maintain exchanges between KFU and CUP in all areas of educational, scientific and contractual activity, as well as between relevant institutions, higher schools and faculties that can establish relations directly within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding.

“The memorandum implies the implementation of educational programs of undergraduate, graduate, and continuing professional education programs; conducting joint research projects; organization of courses, seminars, internships, scientific conferences and other forms of knowledge exchange, as well as exchange of expert knowledge and programs in areas of mutual interest,” said Danis Nourgaliev.

CUP is one of the national universities in China and is subordinate to the Ministry of Education of the PRC. The university has two campuses: in Beijing and Karamay (where oil was found in 1955 – the first major field since the formation of the PRC). CUP is one of the best oil universities in China, which implements 27 undergraduate programs, 99 graduate programs and 48 doctoral programs. The university includes 16 colleges, 2 national key laboratories, 1 national engineering and educational center and 20 research institutes. About 14,000 people study at the university, and 1369 teachers work.

“Negotiations on the conclusion of the Memorandum with our Chinese colleagues have been ongoing since 2018. Thanks to teamwork, we were able to find both sides of the sphere of interest. They became: professional retraining of a group of CUP graduates and internships for both students and researchers at KFU. The scholarship association has already decided to allocate funds for training students of the China University of Petroleum at the Center for Advanced Training, Quality Management and Marketing KFU,” said Ildus Chukmarov.

The following videoconference was attended by: heads of the CUP International Affairs Department Wu Kehua and Lee Yong, Ildus Chukmarov, director of the Department of External Relations Olga Vershinina, senior researcher Chengdong Yuan, senior lecturer Boris Platov, deputy director of Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies for scientific activity Anton Kolchugin and deputy director of Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies for innovation Vladislav Sudakov. By the way, this is the second online meeting with Chinese colleagues this week. Earlier, Ildus Chukmarov and Boris Platov successfully negotiated and outlined further steps for cooperation.

The parties discussed immediately four projects under the Memorandum. The first of these is the professional retraining of ten graduate students of CUP at the Center under the Petroleum Geosciences program. The program in the amount of 600 hours includes the study of specialized subjects in English, as well as the study of the Russian language for one year. After successfully completing training and passing the final exam, they will receive diplomas of professional retraining of Kazan Federal University. Note that this is the first of its kind KFU project in the framework of retraining of foreign citizens. Earlier, Chinese students studied only within the framework of basic education. The start of training is planned in January 2021. In addition, Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies employees interviewed future students of the retraining program, CUP students and researchers.

The second project concerns nine CUP students studying under the bachelor’s program. Within one year they will undergo an internship at Institute, where they will study geology and oil and gas business in English and Russian. Chinese students will have time to master the Russian language in their homeland, and continue to study it already at CUP. Such specialists are called upon to strengthen cooperation between Russia and China in the oil and gas sector.

Two more projects are already connected with research activities. In May 2019, Chinese colleagues visited KFU, its laboratories and were able to appreciate their equipment. Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies has unique equipment and personnel that carry out research commissioned by large enterprises, including international ones. In this regard, the leadership of China University of Petroleum  (decided to send graduate student Ming Fan to the Kazan Federal University, which will conduct research work on the basis of the REC “Modeling TRIZ” under the leadership of Vladislav Sudakov. As well as associate professor Qu Xu for an internship at the Institute of Geology and Oil and Gas Technologies under the leadership of the head of the Department of Mineralogy and Lithology Vladimir Morozov.

Based on the results of past meetings, a further work plan was formed. The China University of Petroleum will send applications for the training of its graduates in the retraining program, after which they will be sent letters of invitation from the Kazan Federal University and concluded education contracts.

The history of cooperation between KFU and CUP began in 2018, when Danis Nourgaliev and the head of the priority area “Ecooil”, the head of the department for the development and operation of hard-to-recover hydrocarbon deposits at KFU, Mikhail Varfolomeev, visited the China University of Petroleum. Being the leading oil university of China, CUP is included in all international rankings. Here, research in the field of oil and gas technologies, geology, catalysis is highly developed. Similar directions are also carried out by Ecooil scientists. Therefore, during the meeting, the parties agreed on the need for cooperation. Later, in 2019, Boris Platov gave a course of lectures for Chinese students at CUP, and in 2020 the director of the Center for Advanced Training, Quality Management and Marketing Ildus Chukmarov and his colleagues accompanied the process of formation and signing of the Memorandum of Understanding and agreed to implement four projects in the framework of further professional education.