On 20 April 2019, the conference “Engineering staff for MegaScience” was held in the State University “Dubna”. Participants discussed the issues of training engineering elite for the breakthrough scientific projects implemented in the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. About 40 people took part in the Conference. Among them, there were representative of several JINR laboratories (VBLHEP, FLNR, DLNP, FLNP, LIT), the NRNU MEPhI and the Bauman MSTU, the State University “Dubna” and residents of the OEZ “Dubna”. The programme of the Conference consisted of the plenary part and the round table for free exchange of opinions.

During plenary reports, FLNR Chief Engineer G. G. Gulbekian, VBLHEP Chief Engineer N. N. Agapov, and LIT Director V. V. Korenkov made up a list of the fields with the deficit of the staff: vacuum, SHF, and cryogenic technologies, electronics and radio engineering, electrical supply, digital technologies and processing of large data volumes. However, participants of the Conference noted that young engineers should not only possess profound knowledge of their profession but, firstly, high motivation, leadership skills, ability to make decisions and show unconventional thinking. That is why it is important to show to students that they are in demand and can be involved in something significant. It is also necessary to enrich the educational programme with project activities. In addition to standard passing of exams or tests, students should create operating devices on their own, to acquire experience of working with materials, welding, soldering, laser cutting, surface processing, and etc.

To exemplify implementation of such an approach in education, the experience of establishment of the International School of Engineering jointly by the Dubna University with JINR was presented at the Conference. The School is aimed at training the best specialists for the JINR breakthrough projects. At the plenary report, participants of the Conference learned how the selection of the most trained and motivated students had been carried out, and how their training with attraction of partner universities would be held. After the plenary part, students of the International School of Engineering passed the initiation ceremony in the festive atmosphere in front of participants of the Conference. Leading scientists and engineers of JINR and the University “Dubna” addressed the keynote words to students, and, after that, presented to them certificates verifying their involvement in this advanced educational project.

At the round table, participants of the Conference shared various concepts of the best use of the existing experience of Russian and foreign universities in training engineering staff. It was noted that joint work of JINR and the Dubna University would allow attracting the best students, from the third year of their education, in active work on the JINR projects, and this would favourably influence the rate of their learning and general work culture. However, it demands participation of leaders of the JINR scientific teams and the staff interested in teaching their own personnel pool.

Evgeny Davydov,
Director of the Engineering Physics Institute,
the State University “Dubna”

Photos by Svetlana Zorina,
photographer of the State University “Dubna”