Improvement of master-level education in the field of physical sciences in Belarusian universities (Physics)

Project number:  561525-EPP-1-2015-1-LV-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP

Duration: 15th October 2015 – 14th October 2018

Project status: finished.

Partners:

1.Riga Technical University, Latvia - Project Coordinator

2.KU Leuven University, Belgium

3.University of Cyprus, Cyprus

4.Belarusian State Technological University, Belarus

5.Belarusian State University, Belarus

6.Francisk Skorina Gomel State University, Belarus

7.Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, Belarus

8.Ministry of Education, Republic of Belarus, Belarus

9.Belarusian Physical Society, Belarus

10.Republican Nanoindustry Association, Belarus

Associated partners:

1.LOTIS TII Joint Venture Limited Liability Company, Belarus

2.Research Institute for Nuclear Problems of Belarusian State University, Belarus

Project aim:

Project «Physics» aimed to reform applied physics disciplines nanotechnology, nanomaterials and photonics training programs to promote the emergence of innovation and economic growth in Belarus; to modernize academic programs in the topic of  energy efficiency; to contribute to education process in such aspects of this topics energy saving like enhancement of energy efficiency, use of renewable sources.

Project results:

• Master degree program “Modern Methods and Equipment for Physical Measurements” was created and successfully implemented

• Books on Applied Physics, Photonics, Functional Nanomaterials and Applied informatics were designed and printed

• Academic disciplines "Nanophotonics", "Physico-chemical methods of analysis", "Optical methods of investigations" for undergraduates were developed

• Infrared Fourier spectrometer Nicolet iS10 (Thermo Scientific), worth 42 thousand dollars was bought and now is used at the laboratory of molecular spectroscopy and optics, Faculty of Physics and Technology.

• January 24, 2017 YKSUG representatives took part in a meeting on the implementation of the project, which was held at the Belarusian State Technological University. Main aim of the meeting was development of training materials for master degree programmes "Photonics" and "Functional Nanomaterials", as well as the curricula and programs in these specialties; discussion of upcoming internships of students and teachers of the Faculty of Physics and Technology at European universities.

• In February 2017 lecturers and students of the Faculty of Physics and Technology visited the Campus of the Technological Faculty of the Leuven Catholic University in Ostend (Belgium). The aim of the visit was to participate in scientific and technical training. The training program was organized at the Faculty of Engineering Technologies, and was held in the form of lectures and demonstrations on solar energy, wind energy, fuel cells, optics, laser and optical fiber, material properties and electromagnetic compatibility. In the result participants were proposed to conduct laboratory work on optical fiber, the synthesis of biodiesel, the study of the properties of materials, as well as the measurement of wind speed and its effect on dunes.

• April 20-21, 2017, lecturers of the Department of General Physics visited the Technological Faculty of the Leuven Catholic University in Ostend (Belgium) and participated in the seminar aimed to discuss the current results of the project. The seminar also included a training on the active use of the virtual learning environment using Blackboard and Moodle systems.

• From 06/09/2017 to 06/13/2017 at the Campus of the Technological Faculty of the Leuven Catholic University (Belgium) was held training to improve the English knowledge of lecturers teaching physics. The purpose of the training was to improve the teaching of physical disciplines for foreign students.

• From February 5 to 16, 2018, the training for students of the Faculty of Physics and Technology was held at the University of Cyprus (Nicosia). The students listened to lectures on calculating and modeling energy systems, including electricity generation and electricity distribution, received from renewable energy sources (wind generators, solar panels). The modeling was held using Matlab + Simulink and Powerworld software. During the classes, students visited laboratories for testing wind turbines and photovoltaic systems.

• On April 12-13, 2018, the meeting of project partners on the accreditation of new curricula in the specialty “Modern Methods and Equipment for Physical Measurements” was held at Belarusian State University. The testing of the developed courses on nanophotonics, optical methods, physico-chemical methods of research and analysis was discussed, as well as issues of equipment acquisition, publications of electronic manuals and future project activities.

• From June 26 to 29, 2018, the 9th workshop dedicated to testing of new special courses for undergraduates in the new specialty “Modern Methods and Measuring Instruments” was held at the Center for Research and Innovation of the University of Cyprus.

• September 12, 2018, representatives of YKSUG took part in the final conference of the project, which was held at the Belarusian State Technological University. Within the framework of the conference, the results of a 2-year work on the project were summed up. Students and undergraduates shared their impressions about their trainings at European partner universities.

• • Two videos about the internships for students and the workshop for project team in Nicosia (Republic of Cyprus) were made and posted on the Internet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLSmEo7QYh8&t=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xorcDD7tvdM

Projects website http://physics.rtu.lv/

Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/515719888598785/

The final conference of the international project Erasmus + "Promoting the development of competencies in Belarusian higher education" FOSTERC

On December 6, 2019,  Minsk hosted the final international conference on the draft ERASMUS + program “Promoting the Development of Competencies in Belarusian Higher Education” (FOSTERC).

The international conference was organized by the Republican Institute of Higher Education in conjunction with the Research Institute INGENIO of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain), Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, Belarusian State University, Belarusian State Economic University.

The conference summarized the process of introducing learning outcomes into the curriculum documentation of educational programs of higher education in the Republic of Belarus.

Employees of higher education institutions in charge of educational and methodological work were invited to participate in the international conference.

Modernisation of Master Curriculum in ICT for Enhancing Student Employability / MaCICT activities

The team of YKSUG students is taking part  in the distributed course project “Software Development in Large Teams” organized by the IT University in Copenhagen as part of the ERASMUS + MaCICT project.

Students are taking an active part in creating working software in accordance with the requirements of an industrial customer in a team of Danish and Belarusian students. They learn to apply the Scrum method, one of the flexible methods, in practice, performing the main Scrum actions: personal work in small groups and in close cooperation with the customer, sprint planning meetings, sprint reviews, sprint retrospectives and daily Scrum meetings.

During the course, students put into practice all the software development skills that they have learnt, learn new technologies, analyze the problems associated with software development, and learn to solve them.
More news on the projects here

Registration continues for the 17th Grodno Invest Weekend and Expert Day

Initiative students, as well as anyone who wants to realize a creative business idea, can send an application for participation until May 16.

Invest Weekend and Expert Day is a non-profit event, a business forum in which businessmen, start-ups, students, experts, and investors are starting and taking place at the same time. This year the event in Grodno will be held online in two stages.

Until mid-May, applications will continue to be accepted, among which the best will be determined later. When filling out an application, the event organizers recommend a detailed description of the solution to the problem identified in the business project, an assessment of the competitive environment, a target audience for the project, a way to monetize a business idea, indicate estimated costs and profits, determine potential market size and describe the competencies of a business team.

The authors of the projects selected at the first stage before May 24 will be able to finalize the presentations. The second stage of the event - an open vote - will be held from May 25 to May 31. Summing up the competition is scheduled for June 3, 2020. In determining the winners will be taken into account as judges and the results of an open vote.

Invest Weekend and Expert Day is a unique opportunity to present your projects to professionals, get useful recommendations and quality feedback. All details about the event can be found at https://grodno.startup-school.by/inwestweekend17. You can also apply for additional information by calling 62 16 30 or +375 44 5926221.

"The Great Patriotic War in the fate of employees of the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno": Evgeny Dalidovich

Evgeny Nikolaevich Dalidovich was born on May 20, 1931 in the village of Kornichee, Gressky district, Minsk region.

From May 1943 to June 1945, Yevgeny Dalidovich was a partisan liaison-scout at N. A. Schors unit of the 3rd Minsk partisan brigade named after S. M. Budenny. He was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, medals "For Impeccable Service" of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd degrees.

From 1988 to 2003, Yevgeny Nikolayevich Dalidovich worked as a lecturer in the Department of Criminal Law, Process and Criminalistics, was the head of the educational laboratory of technical and forensic tools, deputy dean for academic affairs at the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno.

From the memories:

“My childhood was partisan. Throughout the war, together with my family, we were in the zone of action of the partisan movement in the Pukhovichi, Gres, Slutsky, Starodorozhsky and Kopyl regions. My father knew blacksmithing. In early 1942, the partisans were given the task of organizing an weapon manufactory. Tackling such a difficult matter was entrusted to Nikolai Dalidovich, my father. The location of the workshop was chosen on the outskirts of the village Blaschitniki-1 of the Seletsky village council, now the Pukhovichi district. At the edge of the forest, under the old branchy linden, in the cellar, they had to deploy work. Secretly from the occupation authorities, under cover of night, my father and elder brother Georgy took out blacksmith tools on horse-drawn carts from the Pukhovichi and Pokryshevskaya MTS.

Soon the first weapon arrived, which required a thorough repair, since it was most often taken out of water bodies. They worked day and night.

After that I learned how to make mines and other explosive devices for rail warfare, which were also made in a disguised weapons workshop. Also I helped my father to horseshue.

I remember how in the late summer of 1943 my father worked especially hard, literally falling from his feet from fatigue. The task was to chain more than a hundred homemade saddles for partisans. A hot hearth was installed in the workshop, where it was continuously required to supply charcoal made from solid wood chocks in a specially excavated funnel. The responsibility to keep the hearth hot, as well as lugs was laid on me. As I found out later, saddles were fettered for the 12th Stalin Cavalry Brigade, commanded by Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Tikhomirov.

From May 1943 until the expulsion of the German invaders from our land, I was a liaison at N. A. Schors unit of the 3rd Minsk partisan brigade named after S. M. Budenny. I delivered food and water to the partisan units in combat operations, and carried out other orders from the command. I took the partisans who were wounded and suffering from typhus to a hospital in the village of Zarechye, ferrying them on a ferry across the Ptich River.

... In July 1944, a father from a partisan detachment was called up to the front, where he died in battle in Poland. This was the worst news that I had to go through in my entire life. ”

From the book "The Great Patriotic War in the Fates of the Employees of Yanka Kupala StateUniversity", author-compiler - Andrey Getsevich.

Employees and students of the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno will share their family stories about the Great Patriotic War

Video of the memoirs of Employees and students of the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno about relatives - participants of the war will be posted on the university website on the eve of Victory Day.

The university action, dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory, takes place under the name "Kupalists Remember." The project is implemented by the Center of Student Initiatives in conjunction with the Museum of the History of Development of the Yanka Kupala State University.

Employees and students of University, who took part in the action, told in front of video camera about unforgettable events in life of their relatives, whose fate was somehow connected with war. They courageously fought the enemy at the forefront, conducted underground activities, performed feats, helping those who remained at the territory occupied by Nazi invaders. Each story is unique, and memories are passed down from generation to generation. Kupalists remember the exploits of their heroes!

A video with the stories of students and employees of the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno about their relatives - participants in the Great Patriotic War - is another attempt to perpetuate the memory of the heroes of that difficult time. The action “Kupalists Remember” is held with the aim of preserving in each family a personal memory of the war, of the valor of people, understanding the heroic experience of their ancestors and restoring the continuity of generations.

GRODNO: TOGETHER ON THE WAY OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT!

The voting to determine the winners among the competitive works of students of educational institutions of Grodno and the Grodno region of the open FORUM of environmental ideas - “Grodno: together on the way of sustainable development” based on the MULTICENTER of comprehensive support for an environmentally friendly lifestyle of local communities ”as part of the environmental initiative "URA Grodno!"
The aim of the Forum is to attract the public to the development and implementation of measures aimed at improving the quality of the environment, popularization of the environmental initiative "URA Grodno!" in the local community.

The objectives of the Forum:

1. Development of partnerships and the establishment of long-term cooperation between Grodno residents within the framework of the environmental initiative “URA Grodno!”;
2. Creation of educational and creative interaction of Grodno residents on the development and implementation of measures aimed at improving the quality of the environment;
3. Identification, presentation and synthesis of the best public environmental practices in Grodno and the Grodno region;
4. Holding an exhibition-competition of methodological developments in the field of environmental education and an environmentally friendly lifestyle, as well as creative works of students of educational institutions of the city of Grodno and the Grodno region.
The forum was held in 3 stages. The third (full-time) stage took place on April 20-22, 2020 on the basis of he Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/URA Grodno!
The project “Public Involvement in Environmental Monitoring and Improving Environmental Management at the Local Level”, funded by the European Union, implemented by UNDP in Belarus in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Republic of Belarus.

Ecological initiative “URA Grodno!”

Ecological initiative “URA Grodno!” was discussed at Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno within the framework of the activity, a presentation of the UNDP project “Civic engagement in environmental monitoring and improving environmental management at the local level” took place on the 21 of June 2019. The project is funded by the European Union and implemented by the UN Development Program in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources. In addition, the meeting participants learnt about the initiative "Inclusive environmental management by inclusion of Grodno residents in the development and implementation of measures aimed at improving the quality of the environment and monitoring environmental risks in an educational multi-center of integrated support for the environmentally friendly lifestyle of local communities "URA Grodno!".
The representatives of Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno organized the presentation of the Biology and Ecology Faculty and presented the laboratory of the faculty.
The meeting ended with a virtual tour of the secondary school No. 12 of Grodno and acquaintance with the project activities.
The organizers noted that participants learnt about the implementation of the Eco-Monitoring project, funded by the European Union and implemented by the UN Development Program in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources. And also learnt about the initiative “Hurray Grodno!” and discussed all questions.
The initiative is aimed at inclusive environmental management by motivating the inclusion of residents of the city of Grodno in the development and implementation of measures aimed at improving the quality of the environment and monitoring environmental risks, in the context of an educational multicenter to comprehensively support an ecologically friendly lifestyle of local communities “URA Grodno!” (Sustainable development - activity of Grodno).
The meeting was held with the participation of the Head of the project “Public Involvement in Environmental Monitoring and Improving Environmental Management at the Local Level”, funded by the European Union and implemented by the UN Development Program in Belarus in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus. The implementers of the initiative were presented. Among them were Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno (applicant), secondary school No. 12 of Grodno (partner 1) and kinder garden No. 45 of Grodno (partner 2).

Link to the facebook group

Yanka Kupala state University of Grodno joined the republican action “Belarus remembers”

On May 4, university management and staff laid flowers at the monument to the cadets of the border guards who held the defense of Grodno in 1941.

Here, in the summer of 1941, in the tract of Pyshki, the summer camp of the Brest District School of the younger commanding officers of the border troops of People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs was located. On June 22-23, 1941, cadets fought with the Nazi invaders on the Neman River and near the village of Grandichi.

University rector Irina Kiturko, as well as employees and students of the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, honored the dead soldiers and laid flowers at the memorial to commemorate the heroism of the soldiers.

The Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno discussed in on-line mode issues of economics and management of the 21st century

More than 120 people from 12 higher educational institutions of Belarus, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan became participants in the student scientific conference “Economics and Management of the 21st Century”.

Traditionally, representatives of the Humanitarian College of the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, the secondary school No. 35 of Grodno, the gymnasium No. 2 of Soligorsk, the Dubna secondary school, the gymnasium No. 1 of Mosty and the secondary school No.2 of Mosty were involved in the scientific dialogue at the Faculty of Economics and Management.

Within the framework of the forum, which was held in the format of a convention session on the WebEx platform, a round table discussion was held on “Cooperation without borders: economic and informational aspects”. Five sections worked at the conference. These are “International business and marketing”, “Finance and accounting”, “Economics and enterprise management”, “Mathematical and informational support of economic systems” and “The first step in science (for students from institutions of general secondary and secondary special education)”

The organizers note that, thanks to modern technology, a discussion of the reports took place during the round table. This allowed students to successfully test the results of their research in the international scientific community.

The Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management, Marina Karpitskaya, made a welcoming speech. The moderators of the round table were Olga Tsekhan, Head of the Department of Mathematical and Information Support of Economic Systems, and Natalya Grin, Associate Professor of the Department of Mathematical and Information Support of Economic Systems.

In addition, an online quest "The Great Secret" was organized as part of the distance scientific meeting. It was organized by 2nd year students of the specialty "Information Systems and Technologies", headed by Violetta Kveten, chairman of the Student Scientific Society of the Faculty of Economics and Management. According to the results of participation, the winners were awarded souvenirs from the Faculty of Economics and Management. They were a student of the 9th grade of gymnasium No. 1 of Mosty, Anna Dekevich, a 3rd year student of the specialty "Finance and Credit" of the Faculty of Economics and Management of the Yanka Kupala State University, Anastasia Goryachko, and a student of the 11th grade of the State Educational Institution "Educational-pedagogical complex nursery-school-secondary school agro-town Lutskovlyany " Victoria Mekeko.

All conference participants received certificates and diplomas as part of the work in sections.

The aim of the scientific conference was to stimulate research and popularize its results, promote scientific communication of representatives of various disciplines, as well as involve potential applicants in a scientific dialogue.

The co-organizers of the conference were the partners of the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno in the field of scientific cooperation - L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Kazakhstan), Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University (Ukraine), Russian Transport University (Russia), Technical and Humanitarian Academy in Bielsko-Biala (Poland).