Final Conference of Festival of Science & Innovations

It has become a tradition to hold the Festival of Science & Innovations at Astrakhan State University every spring. This time, the final conference has been started with a speech by Prof. Anna Fedotova, our Vice Rector for Research Activities, who has summed up the outcomes of the current Festival. All in all, 142 scientific and applied events have been held within it. What is especially remarkable is active introduction of international experience in arrangement of scientific events (video conferences, discussion sites, etc.).

Deans and Heads of Chairs have told about innovations and experiments that they have recently applied. Prof. Lyudmila Baeva, Dean of our Department of Social Communications, has told about application of new approaches to teaching Philosophy at our University. This academic year, the delivery of this discipline is organized within “large student flows”. To motivate students to master the discipline more profoundly, their studies are closely integrated into the process of international communication and creativity. The academic game model of a “large flow” helps professors combine the principle “equals to equals”, the crowdsourcing principle, and the visualization principle in a peculiar way. In Prof. Baeva’s opinion, such an approach indeed contributes much to the development of our students’ general cultural and professional competencies.

Dr. Alexander Knyazev, Head of the Chair of Mathematics & Mathematics Teaching Technique, and Dr. Svetlana Kenzhalieva have presented a concept of the cognitive model to form students’ mathematical thinking. The Department of Mathematics & Information Technologies has developed concept tests and cases to deliver mathematical disciplines, which make it possible to activate students’ cognitive abilities while they are studying Math.

Prof. Elena Savelyeva, Dean of our Law Department, has told about the innovative structure of the curriculum of the Department. An increased share of practical workshops and application of innovative forms of delivering legal disciplines (which have been tested in practice successfully) contribute to enhanced quality of future lawyers’ training at ASU.

Formation of students’ cognitive needs has been the main theme of the speech by Prof. Lyudmila Kasyanova, Dean of our Department of Philology & Journalism. Application of active methods of teaching, according to the Dean, makes the educational process at our master courses practice-oriented. As a result of teamwork done by professors and students of the Department, complex innovative projects in the field of Philology have been developed.

Prof. Olga Egorova has shared her positive experience in applying an innovative model to administer an Institute as a university structural unit. In her opinion, such activities bring ASU closer to international experience of multi-aspect operation of universities. As for Prof. Alexey Tyrkov, Dean of the Chemical Department, he has emphasized importance of creation of an innovative ecosystem at our University.

The round table “Delivery of Practical Workshop in Mathematics: Issues & Solutions” and the section “Quality Management” have been arranged by the faculty staff of our Institute of Researches & Solutions to Technological Tasks.

The reports presented at the final conference prove that active application of innovative technologies in the educational process and in university administration makes Astrakhan State University an educational institution of a new type.