Tomsk State University and Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) have signed an agreement to launch a new joint study program that will train molecular engineering specialists. The program is at the intersection of biology, chemistry, mathematics, IT, and engineering. Its graduates will create new products and technologies for biomedicine and agricultural biotechnology for the TSU School of Advanced Engineering Studies Agrobiotech. The agreement was signed at the 3rd international forum on cooperation within the framework of the One Belt, One Road initiative.
"Ensuring the technological sovereignty and economic sustainability of each country is directly related to the creation of products and technologies that can ensure leadership in a particular industry," said Irina Kurzina, the program coordinator and professor at the Faculty of Chemistry at TSU. "Such developments usually appear at the intersection of several sciences, so it is necessary to train specialists ready to create breakthrough developments in an interdisciplinary field. This is how TSU and BUCT designed the network bachelor's degree program in molecular engineering, which is expected to start in September 2024."
Photo courtesy of Irina Kurzina
The English-language program will be 2+2 program, and Russian students will study in China for two years, while Chinese students will spend the same amount of time in Tomsk. It is expected that the students will be trained at the TSU Agrobiotech. The educational process will take place in the Agrobiotech laboratories rather than in classrooms. Along with a good theoretical base, this will provide graduates with a wide range of practical skills, in particular, working on the most modern equipment.
The graduates will receive two official documents - a diploma of TSU in Innovatics (Tomsk International Science Program, professional module: Molecular Engineering) and a diploma of Beijing University of Chemical Technology in Biological Engineering.
"Molecular engineering is one of the most prominent and rapidly developing fields at the intersection of biotechnology and molecular sciences. These specialists are in high demand in the Russian and international labor markets," said Kirill Golokhvast, director of Agrobiotech. "It is obvious that such qualified personnel can only be trained by the world's top universities, such as TSU and BUCT."
Photo courtesy of Irina Kurzina
"Beijing University of Chemical Technology is a very prominent Chinese university. It has successfully participated in all three national programs of academic excellence, and cooperation with this university provides us an opportunity not only to get good and highly motivated students, but also access to the powerful resource base through joint research, and this feature is a strong point of the top Chinese universities," emphasized Artyom Rykun, TSU Vice-Rector for International Affairs. "It is also necessary to note the exceptional motivation of the entire university team, starting from volunteers to the heads of BUCT colleges and international department, and amazing democracy at the final ceremony the Vice-president of BUCT thanked everyone involved in the conference organization, including the IT-team, and also called all the volunteers to the stage. Such dedication and team cohesion ensure that the joint program will be implemented extremely effectively."
