The North and Arctic Institute, created on the basis of the Siberian Federal University, is officially opened, the regional government’s press office reports. The institution will conduct training and advanced training of specialists to study the North and the Arctic of the region.
The institute is located in a new building in the Student Town of the regional center. The training will be carried out according to the pre-university training programs at the International Northern School and additional education programs at the Arctic International Business School. The task of the northern school is to educate children living in the North, including representatives of indigenous minorities, and prepare them for entering the North and Arctic Institute. The Arctic business school will be engaged in retraining and advanced training of the Krasnoyarsk region North residents who have higher education. They will receive additional special knowledge related to working in the polar region.
On the initiative of governor Alexander Uss, it was proposed to appoint a famous scientist, researcher of the Arctic and Antarctic, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, hero of the Soviet Union and hero of Russia, first vice-president of the Russian Geographical Society Artur Chilingarov. The agreement of the famous polar explorer has been received.
Leading specialized experts representing the scientific community of the region will also supervise the areas of work of the university. Director of the of Ecology and Geography Institute of the Siberian Federal University Ruslan Sharafutdinov will be the head of the scientific direction. Natalya Koptseva, head of the Culturology and Art Criticism Department of the Humanities Institute, will lead the educational work. The project direction of the North and Arctic Institute will be supervised by Yury Zaharinsky, Head of the Department for Comprehensive Arctic Studies of the SFU. The duties of the university director are entrusted to the vice-rector for scientific work of the Siberian Federal University Ruslan Baryshev.
This approach to the institute curricular and staff formation is quite logical, because the university should become the leading intellectual center of Siberia in the field of research, innovative technological developments, training for the development of the Arctic and northern territories. In the future, it should become a supporting platform for the work of the State Commission for the Development of the Arctic.
Text: Victor Tsaryov, Photo: Elena Dolzhenko
