Last week, Rosatom and the National Polytechnic University of Armenia organized an event to present its Mathematics and Physics Olympiad for high school students. The event brought together almost 100 students from the country’s leading schools with advanced coverage of math and physics.
The development of Armenia’s nuclear power industry demands highly qualified workforce, and the Russian-Armenian cooperation in this field has already brought tangible results. Students from Armenia have been studying in Russia’s nuclear engineering universities since 2014. With a modernization program running at the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, the bilateral cooperation becomes especially important.
According to Mark Kalinin, Counselor of the Russian Embassy in Armenia and Director of the Russian Science and Culture Center in Yerevan, more than 200 young people from Armenia are annually enrolled for free training at Russia’s leading universities. As the need for engineering professionals is growing, graduates of these universities will be much in demand in the Armenian nuclear power industry. Artyom Petrosyan, Head of the Nuclear Energy Department at Armenia’s Ministry of Energy Infrastructure and Natural Resources, added that the young professionals can always rely on the government support when starting their careers. “The Olympiad will be yet another milestone in the Russian-Armenian cooperation on nuclear workforce training. The Metsamor modernization project is run jointly with Armenian engineers as part of the country’s new development strategy. This is a tough job requiring close collaboration and, of course, a high degree of expertise,” commented Vasily Kuzmin, Chief Technology Officer of Rusatom Service.
The Olympiad for high school students will have two rounds – preliminary and final – to be held in the autumn of 2017 and winter of 2018 respectively. The winners and runners-up will have a higher chance of entering Rosatom’s core universities, particularly the National Nuclear Research University (MEPhI), in 2018.
MEPhI representatives also delivered a public lecture on the VVER reactor technology, evolution, safety and references projects. Its subject was selected on purpose as the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant operates a Russian-designed VVER reactor. The lecture ended up with a lively question and an answer session involving the academic community and future university students. “I am particularly positive about such projects as this Olympiad since they benefit all parties involved. Talented students get an opportunity to show themselves,” noted Aram Gevorgyan, Deputy Director of the Energy and Electrical Engineering Institute of the National Polytechnic University of Armenia. “It is a great honor for us to be partners to the project. I hope that Armenian students will do their best in the new Olympiad and wish good luck to all the participants.”
