Astrakhan State University (ASU) was included in the list of the most promising higher educational institutions of the country, following the results of the presentation of the university development project for 10 years before the competition commission of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.
In total, 106 universities from 49 cities of the Russian Federation were selected for the Priority 2030 program. More than 60% of the winning universities are regional. Thus, only 10 universities from the Southern Federal District entered the program, one of them was ASU.
The ASU development program is based on the territorial leadership model —”Region-shaping University”, which has a special impact on regional development, concentrates all the resource potential on the scientific frontier, offering new solutions to the issues of spatial, personnel, social and technological development, in order to ensure the socioeconomic growth of the region, is focused on creating new “points of growth” – technological industries of the region-shaping clusters, ensuring the security of the geostrategic border area.
In order to successfully implement the development program, the institutional transformation of the university will be carried out. This will include educational activities. Thus, we plan to convert the university from a bachelor’s to a master’s degree program.
“Regional government’s support and prospects of the Astrakhan Region as a geostrategic territory of the Russian Caspian region give opportunities for the university to shift to entirely new level of training specialists and development of scientific schools. ASU merging with Astrakhan State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering will allow us to become the largest regional university that will fully meet staff requirements of the region. Our mission is to develop human, scientific and technological capacity and to help Russia’s economic power and international influence in the Caspian Sea region to increase,” Konstantin Markelov commented.
Let us recall that ASU team presented the university development program until 2030 to the Commission of the Ministry of Education and Science on September 24. As part of his report, Rector of ASU Konstantin Markelov presented to the experts unique ideas included in the project plan. First of all, he presented five key areas of the region, including “Marine Robot”, Digital Platform of the North-South Transport Corridor, Development of a Societal Security System for the Caspian Macroregion, Improving Environmental Safety and Conservation of Natural Systems of Caspian Macroregion, Caspian Incubator of Agro-Bio-Technologies. All projects will be implemented in close cooperation with the members of the Consortium of educational organizations of higher education and scientific organizations of the Astrakhan region.
“Implementation of such projects will have a tremendous impact on the development of higher education, educational programs, business involvement in science and cooperation with public authorities,” the Rector of ASU emphasized.