VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Vladimir Putin began his tour of Far Eastern Federal University with a visit to the campus. He was first shown the student dormitories, which he liked.
Mr Putin was then taken to the faculty residences, where the heads of state and government will stay during the 2012 APEC conference. The prime minister asked how many flats there were on the campus. University Rector Vladimir Miklushevsky said there will be five flat blocks on the campus each containing six flats. “Those who wish to live here should join the queue now,” Putin said with a smile at his entourage.
Having inspected the cafeteria and the kitchen, he went to the Congress Centre where the main functions will be held during the APEC conference and where the Student Centre will be established after it.
Putin was also shown the Electronic University system set up at Far Eastern Federal University. Dmitry Shumkov, head of the company that created the system, told the prime minister that Electronic University is the latest university management software and that only a few universities in the world are using it now. “It offers an opportunity for remote management of all processes at a university. Students can do without grade books or student cards,” Shumkov said. He said the system comprises an electronic library which has books and lectures also available to students from other cities. The system also stipulates the establishment of special conditions for students with special needs, a “social GLONASS.” Apart from tuition objectives, Electronic University can also be used in day-to-day life, for example, to order meals in the cafeteria by telephone or the internet, Shumkov said.
“This is wonderful,” Putin said. “Great.”
* * *
During his tour of Far Eastern Federal University, Vladimir Putin talked with the rectors from Russian universities who were accompanying him:
Vladimir Putin: We have come to see this project, just as we agreed in Moscow. What are your first impressions?
Remark: This is incredible! Great!
Vladimir Putin: Yes, it is, isn’t it?
Remark: Wonderful!
Remark: Some have decided to remain here…
Vladimir Putin: The right choice. Honestly, it would be wonderful if you helped attract good lecturers, the leading professors in different areas of knowledge here. This is our common task. This is the task not only for this university’s rector; it is a common goal of the country’s educational community to establish a major education and research centre in Russia’s east. We will talk about this today. I have invited you here to see that we have almost finished building the physical plant for this university. But we must ensure that it corresponds to our intellectual standards. I first came here four years ago. It was all forest with narrow foot paths.
A year and a half ago, they had barely completed the foundation, and not even for all the facilities. But now you can see an entire city here, with education buildings, laboratories and a hotel-style campus. Maybe we will go back there again to admire them.
And this is an oceanarium, which is being built at my request for the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. I would like the Academy of Sciences and Far Eastern Federal University to work together, or at least to cooperate on research.
There are questions on which we need to consult you, even though they are not highly specialised. I have talked with Igor Shuvalov about this today – we must decide what these premises should hold, a research block only or, if possible, also a kind of safari park, where people could come to see the wild life in this Russian region. In short, this is an issue we need to consider.
Remark: This is not a mere campus but a whole city.
Vladimir Putin: Yes, it is a city that is being built to the latest standards. I don’t know if there is anything in the world we can compare it to. We worked to meet the highest standards.
