Задания 2-5 предназначены для выполнения в «несильных» группах

Разговорная тема: Образование

Часть I

SAINT PETERSBURG ELECTROTECHNICAL UNIVERSITY (LETI)

Задания 2-5 предназначены для выполнения в «несильных» группах

Task 1. Read the text, paying special attention to italicized words and phrases. (Прочитайте текст, обращая внимание на выделенные курсивом слова и фразы.)

Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University is one of the world largest education and research centers with strong traditions. It was founded in 1886 as the Engineering College of the Department of Post and Telegraph of Russia. In 1891 it was reorganized into the Imperial Institute of Electrical Engineering which became the first in Europe higher educational institution for training engineers and researchers. Professor of physics Alexander Popov, the inventor of the radio receiver was the first rector of the Institute. Many other outstanding Russian scientists worked in the Institute.

In the twenties of the 20th century the Electrotechnical Institute took significant part in the development of electrification plans of Russia.

In the early 90s the Institute opened new departments, those of humanities and economics. In 1992 the Institute was granted the university status and became the first Electrotechnical University in Russia.

Today Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI” is one of the leading educational, scientific and cultural centers well known both in Russia and abroad. More than 1000 highly-qualified teachers and professors work at the University, 70% of them having Ph.D. rate and 30 having Russian and international prizes. Over 30 academicians and members of the Russian Academy of Science worked at ETU at different times. The Nobel Prize Winner in physics Zhores Alferov is the head at the department of optoelectronics. More than 8000 students and 400 postgraduates attend lectures and classes at seven faculties of the University every year.

The University strives for providing fundamental knowledge, special training, and professional skills to graduates who will be able to make considerable contribution to the industry, science, education and culture of our country. The university also extends international cooperation in academic, scientific and cultural areas, tries to stir up innovational activity.

The University has agreements on cooperation with more than 30 universities in the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden, Germany and other countries, which include students and teachers exchange, joint development of educational programs, mutual implementation of research projects. At present more than 500 students from Europe, Asia and Africa study at the preparatory and full-time departments of the University. Every year ETU undergraduate and postgraduate students go to study and do research in the USA, Finland, Sweden and Germany. The results of ETU research work are implemented in companies and research centers of the USA, Finland, China, and France. The University cooperates with such companies as Motorola, Intel, Microsoft, Parsytec, etc.

ETU has one of the oldest and biggest university libraries in Saint Petersburg. The basis of the library was formed by Alexander III gifts, personal libraries of P. Voinarovsky, N. Buligin, A. Popov and others. Today the library collection contains 1 200 000 volumes of books and over 27 000 items of magazines. Every year more than 400 000 readers attend the library. The ETU library participates in national and international programmes and projects.

The faculties of the University are: the Faculty of Radio Engineering and Telecommunications, the Faculty of Electronics, the Faculty of Computing Technologies and Informatics, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Automatics, the Faculty of Information, Measurement and Biotechnical Systems, the Faculty of Economics and Management, the Faculty of Humanities.

The Faculty of Radio Engineering and Telecommunications keeps to traditions of radio engineering school established by the inventor of the radio Alexander Popov. His followers and students developed the main trends in research and academic studies of radio electronics in Russia. The scientists of the faculty do research in such spheres as: broad-banded communication systems, space radio engineering systems, laser radar measuring and control complexes, electromagnetic compatibility and marine radar systems. The Faculty also does a great deal of applied research works in the design of devices of images registration from mobile vehicles, the development of rapid acting processors, virtual reality systems, applied radio physics. The Faculty cooperates with the universities of many foreign countries.

The Faculty of Electronics deals with construction and development of basic electronic devices such as transistors, lasers, accelerators, technological installations for different physical processes realization. The programmes offered by the Faculty are very popular among the students. The education process at the Faculty provides profound study of physics disciplines connected with production technology, devices and systems construction and production. The Faculty departments cooperate with international partners from many countries. The department of optoelectronics headed by academician Zh. Alferov is placed at the Faculty. The Faculty admits 180 students annually.

The Faculty of Computing Technologies and Informatics provides excellent knowledge and skills in Computer Science and Information Technology. The emphasis in the education process is made on computer science, software and information systems. The graduates of the Faculty work in industry, software development companies, administrative structures, financial and banking institutions, and in other businesses in Russia and abroad. According to special agreements students of the Faculty are trained for such companies as Motorola, Microsoft Corporation, Parsytec. Degree Programmes offered by the Faculty include: computer security, system analysis and control, information systems and resources management and control, applied mathematics and computer science.

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Automatics offers its students such special subjects as industrial automation, manufacturing system automation, electrical engineering, electroenergetics and computerized electrotechnologies. Its graduates work in companies specializing in mechanical engineering, aircraft technology, shipbuilding, and transport. The emphasis in the education process is made on mastering the computer control systems and computing technologies based on the application of programmed controllers and industrial terminal equipped with up-to-date means of communication. Students of the Faculty have practice in laboratories equipped with Siemens, OMRON, SEW Eurodrive techniques. Students investigate the influence of concentrated energy beams and laser radiation on the substance, the development of new types of energy sources for large power impulse laser installations and electric welding equipment. This investigation is based on mathematical modeling in which software facilities and methods developed at ETU are used.

The Faculty of Information, Measurement and Biotechnical Systems specializes in development of a wide range of information-measuring devices and systems. Emphasis is made on practical tasks: the development of laser measurement devices and systems, biomedical techniques, technical means of ecological monitoring, non-destructive testing, systems of autonomous navigation. The Faculty takes part in the national programme “Education” which helps to improve the Faculty’s equipment and education technologies. Specialists from industrial enterprises and scientists from the Academy of Sciences of Russia are invited to deliver lectures for the students of the Faculty. The Faculty also cooperates with scientists from the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Finland.

The Faculty of Economics and Management was established in 1999. Academic programmes combine technical and management courses, and intensive course of the English language. The Faculty research interests are connected with implementation of the Quality Management elements in higher education institutions and development of evaluation methods of universities’ quality systems audit. They also include problems of ecological management in accordance with the international standards which are based on the modern approach to the environmental protection.

The Faculty of Humanities started in 1989. It was one the first faculties dealing with humanities and social sciences established in Saint Petersburg engineering institute. Since then it has trained more than 1000 students. At present its student body is more than 700 students. The departments of the Faculty offer students the courses of profound learning of foreign languages, fundamentals of cross-cultural communication, the history of culture, state and law, philosophy, sociology and political science, as well as advertising and public relations. The Faculty staff participates in the research in the areas of sociology and psychology; investigate the philosophy of science and engineering. Every year the Faculty holds All-Russia conference “Information, Communication, Society”; All-Russia student Festival “PR – the Profession of the Third Millennium” and an interuniversity student Forum “The Palette of Languages and Cultures.” The graduates of the Faculty are demanded at the labour market of Saint Petersburg and Russia. They find their jobs in PR and press agencies and mass media, work in the sphere of tourism and education. Some of them are employed by Saint Petersburg government committees, big companies such as Microsoft and Nokia, and some became the employees of institutions of culture, for example, of the Hermitage and the Russian Museum.