More than 200 Chinese students submitted an application for participation. Those who successfully accomplished online trainings in May were invited to St. Petersburg in September.

It was the second time when Chinese students came to ITMO University. Last year an intensive course of optical design was also organized for them. Some students of Peking University are frequent participants of Russian-Chinese educational programs. They came to ITMO University for the third time.

“We have chosen the best students of Peking University. To receive ITMO University grant Chinese students had to solve tasks that young programmers usually solved at ACM ICPC; and they showed excellent results! Over the last several years programming teams from Peking University placed 1st and 2nd for several times. International students say that our training program is very useful,” said Lidia Perovskaya, tutor of Computer Technology Chair.

Andrey Stankevich, associate professor of Computer Technology Chair and coach of ITMO University programming team, together with ACM ICPC champions trained five Chinese programmers.

“Unlike my colleagues I came to St. Petersburg for the first time. ITMO University students show perfect results at ACM ICPC. It affects a style of training. Russian experts gave us a lot of useful information and focused on teamwork as opposed to individual, which is more typical for Chinese training programs,” said Hao He, student of Peking University.

This year Summer Camp in Optical System Design invited seven young researchers from China – Master`s and Bachelor senior students of Huazhong University. Alexey Bakholdin, head of the Chair of Applied and Computer Optics, initiated this program. During a week Chinese students were designing optical systems using “Zemax” and “Opal” programs. They also had several classes at Student Scientific Laboratory of Optical Engineering.

“Our lab develops rapidly. That is why we got an opportunity to invite international students for training. Our lab offers all required equipment,” said Azaliya Saitgalina, one of  lab`s head and Master`s student of Chair of Applied and Computer Optics.

In spite of the tight schedule Chinese students managed in going sightseeing. They visited Magic of Light exhibition and the most popular sights of St. Petersburg with the assistance of ITMO University volunteers, who spent their free time to communicate with international students.

“We showed our guests round the city, shared Russian traditions and involved them in students` activities. We establish friendly relations in such a way. We know some students because they visited ITMO University before. I am sure that keeping in touch with our international colleagues we will welcomed warmly while visiting China,”  said Mihail Novoselov, volunteer and student of Department of Physics and Engineering.

According to Irina Kim, head of Center for Asian Cooperation, such international projects make ITMO University more recognizable to students from all over the world. After visiting our short-term programs Chinese students may continue their studying in Russia as Master`s or PhD students.

“We do our best in order to show that Russia is a wonderful place both for studying and living,” noted Ms. Kim.

Ulyana Malysheva

News portal editorial office