Developing International Cooperation in Welding

On Nov. 17, 2015, Dr. Luca Costa, Director of the Education & Training Department of the Italian Institute of Welding (Genoa), Chairman of the Technical Management Board and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Welding, has arrived at Astrakhan State University.

According to Dr. Alexey Rybakov, Director of ASU’s Institute of Researches & Solutions to Technological Tasks, one of our University’s top-priority activities is to establish partnership relations with EU universities, in particular – in the field of training qualified engineers, so the current meeting with the distinguished Italian guest is mutually beneficial. As for Dr. Nikolay Vybornov, Dean of our Department of Physics & Technology, he has pointed out that there are only two large institutes of welding in the world (in Italy and in Germany), and setting up good contacts with such institutions is of great value. As Dr. Vladimir Smirnov, Head of our Chair of Material Science & Welding Technology, confesses, one could learn a lot of interesting and useful things by studying expertise and HR certification activities that the Italian Institute of Welding performs. As for Dr. Denis Merkulov, an Associate Professor of the same Chair and Director of the Welders Certification Center, he has remarked that Astrakhan State University has actively been participating in the TEMPUS program and now it is taking part in ERASMUS+. So international cooperation in student and staff exchange programs, as well as in joint researches, is truly essential for our University.

An excursion up and down ASU has been arranged for the Italian guest; he has been told about researches that laboratories of our Department of Physics & Technology undertake. Besides, he has met our Rector, Prof. Alexander Lunyov, and the two parties have determined the main areas of their further partnership.

One of the main events on the agenda of Dr. Costa’s visit was a roundtable talk, which has united reps of educational institutions, which train future welders, and staff of Astrakhan Region’s shipbuilding and ship-repairing enterprises. Dr. Costa has given a detailed presentation of the Italian Institute of Welding and its main activities. In particular, according to our Italian guest, the Institute provides technical support for various organizations and institutions; it executes advanced diagnostics of equipment and architectural constructions; it inspects institutions to determine the degree of the risk factor; it consults and advises enterprises in the field of welding fabrication; it also provides its clients with certification documents by applying EU and US control standards and regulations. The Institute involves its students in technical consultancy, which lets them obtain practical skills that are necessary for their further professional activities.

Opening the discussion, Prof. Galina Stefanova, First Vice Rector – Vice Rector for Main Activities of ASU, has told the participants of the roundtable about the retraining program that our faculty staff members have covered in Genoa; she has invited Astrakhan’s business executives to cover a similar program as well. Besides issues related to retraining and legal acknowledgement of Italian certificates in Russia and outside it, the participants have displayed profound interest in selection of welding equipment with the best balance between its price and its quality, in the existing demand for welding-related specialties among potential students, in job opportunities for qualified welders, and in practical application of the obtained knowledge and skills. There has been an interesting suggestion by Ms. Nadezhda Fyodorova, Deputy Director for Academic & Production Activities of Astrakhan State College of Professional Technologies; she has informed the roundtable participants of an upcoming contest for welders at the College, so she has invited reps of ASU and potential employers to become its jurors.

After the roundtable, Dr. Luca Costa has given a whole number of master classes in fundamentals of welding, fusing, and metallography for students and faculty of our University.

A framework partnership agreement is expected to be signed by the two parties as a result of Dr. Costa’s visit to Astrakhan State University.

Russian original information source: T.Yu. Gavrilkina (the University Web Resources Information Support Laboratory of ASU)

Russian original photo source: K.R. Ekshembeeva (the University Web Resources Information Support Laboratory of ASU)