'By Pandemic's End, Scale of Cooperation With Thailand Will Increase' - Rector

11:19, March 5, 2021

Victor Koksharov took part in the meeting of rectors of Russia and Thailand

Rector of UrFU Victor Koksharov spoke about the possibilities of the university and the region at the first forum of rectors of universities in Russia and Thailand. He noted that the university is located in the industrial part of Russia and is one of the largest universities in the country.

According to the rector, a wide range of disciplines makes it possible to work in interdisciplinary projects. That is why UrFU focuses on the high level of such projects.

“We create competency projects in the field of transformation and digital technologies in order to implement the digital university model in Russia. We received a grant from the Government of the Russian Federation to create a similar model and to extrapolate our experience to other universities in the future,” said Victor Koksharov.

UrFU works closely with enterprises and has many business partners not only at the regional but also at the international level. This makes it possible to implement scientific and educational projects, work with leading enterprises in the field of creating new materials.

“We have over 4500 foreign students, over 200 international professors and lecturers. Thailand is currently one of our priority partners. Due to the pandemic, we now have only five students from Thailand, but, nevertheless, they are quite successful - one of them recently defended her thesis in political science. After the pandemic, the scale of cooperation with Thailand will increase,” Rector said.

The head of the university also noted the successes of the Ural Interregional Research and Education Center of the world level "Advanced industrial technologies and materials", supported by industrialists and the authorities of the region.

In addition, international partners are involved in it: Siemens, Fanuc, Emerson, etc. The center now houses 59 organizations, including nine universities, 10 scientific organizations and 39 industrial partners.

“We have quite ambitious goals and objectives for the development of UIREC. With the help of it, we would like to overcome some of the problems that have developed in our region, for example, the socio-economic impact on the environment, as well as to strengthen the interaction between the various subjects of the federation for smoother cooperation in the socio-economic terms. Over the next five years, we would like to increase the GDP and the number of jobs, increase the number and quality of publications, and also attract more exchange students, ”said Victor Koksharov.

The rector of the university invited industrial enterprises of Thailand to participate in the projects of the UIREC.

“I like the old Thai saying, 'White elephants are very rare.' I am sure that thanks to our cooperation we will have a lot of white elephants, ”summed up Victor Koksharov.