Russian President's Visit to Novosibirsk State Technical University

The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin paid a visit to Novosibirsk State Technical University on 17 November 2000.

Education Minister Vladimir Filippov, Plenipotentiary of the Russian President in the Siberian Federal Territory Leonid Drachevsky, Novosibirsk Governor Victor Tolokonsky as well as People's Deputies Council Chairman Victor Leonov were present at the meeting with professors and students of the University.

Education Minister Vladimir Fillipov said that for every enterprise, institution or organization the Russian President's appreciation of their work is the highest reward. NSTU was the first to deserve this high opinion. V. M. Fillipov stressed that the University had made great pro Russian gress in strengthening its material basis, in increasing the enrollment (the number of students admitted to the University had doubled) and in building houses for the University staff.

The speakers drew attention to a generally recognized high standard of training and competence of teaching staff in Russian universities in general and in NSTU in particular. "An American university today is a place where Russian professors teach Chinese students", they joked.

Having welcomed the guests the Rector of NSTU Anatoly Vostrikov expressed his hope to receive the President at the University in the future and invited him to the celebration of the 75th 100th anniversaries of NSTU.

Addressing the professors and students present at the meeting President Putin said, "I am very pleased to be here with you on such a remarkable day. We usually make presents on birthdays. So we have decided to present you with a computer of the latest design. It is UltraSPARK-III. There are no computers like this in Russia as yet. It will be used as the main processor at the University and it is a real pleasure for me to present it to the Rector"

The President also handed in a honorary diploma for the great contribution of Novosibirsk State Technical University to the development of higher education and training highly qualified specialists.

Addressing the audience V.V. Putin emphasized the significance of commitment to excellence in training specialists in Russian universities and colleges. He said, "According to analysts the body of knowledge acquired by people is renewed every 3-5 years and within the life period of a person 4-5 generations of technological equipment supersede each other. It is quite obvious that scientists and researchers play the most important part in this process. If earlier Russia used to take advantage of having a great number of engineers and specialists, now the emphasis is placed on their intellectual potential, competence and professionalism. We should be ready to acknowledge the fact that in the near future society will live in a single educational environment and we shouldn't allow our educational system to become obsolete and outdated. To do that both teachers and students must work hard. It depends on people's ability to adapt to new conditions of life. Just remember what happened to dinosaurs. They seemed to be so invulnerable, strong and invincible but they failed to adapt to the radically changing conditions and vanished". President Putin further stressed that he considered the most pressing and vital task for institutions of higher learning in Russia to teach people the skill of learning and self-organizing. In conclusion the President said, "I warmly congratulate you on the 50th anniversary and wish you every success in your noble undertaking".