Viktoria Vinogradova, Vladislav Ruzavin and Aleksandra Ivanova

On 19 December, the Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Murino Secondary School No. 8 (Murino, Vsevolozhsk District, Leningrad Region), and the MAVIS Investment and Construction Group signed a tripartite cooperation agreement.

The main goal of the collaboration is to create a model for a continuous educational cycle "school-university-enterprise," through which schoolchildren will be able to develop research skills and engineering thinking, receive early career guidance, and see the real application of knowledge in practice. The signing ceremony, held at Murino School No. 8, was attended by Viktoria Vinogradova, SPbGASU Vice-Rector for Continuing Education, Aleksandra Ivanova, Principal of School No. 8, and Vladislav Ruzavin, Deputy Administrative Director of the ICG "MAVIS."

In her welcoming remarks, Aleksandra Ivanova noted: "We are extremely interested in collaborating with SPbGASU. Today, we are preparing future university applicants, and tomorrow, you will be preparing future employees for our main partner company and other companies in the construction industry. The agreement signed today will serve as a starting point for the joint development of new ideas for creating a unified scientific and educational information environment, partnerships in education and science, and the development and implementation of effective forms of cooperation."

Viktoria Vinogradova emphasized the importance of the concept of continuous education and the university's collaboration with industry partners in career guidance. "Today marks the launch of a project in which the school, university, and employer are uniting to train successful and in-demand specialists in the construction industry," she said.

"MAVIS has been successfully collaborating with SPbGASU for several years. Currently, a number of employees are studying at the university part-time, and students have the opportunity to complete internships at our facilities," said Vladislav Ruzavin.

After the agreement was signed, representatives of the SPbGASU Admissions Committee and faculties addressed the school's teachers, students, and their parents.

Ilya Gladushevskiy, the Admissions Committee's Executive Secretary, spoke about the university as a whole and the career guidance activities it hosts: "SPbGASU begins working with prospective students as early as their school years. For us, it's not just Unified State Exam results that matter, but a conscious interest in the construction industry. We recognize and support students who want to develop in this field, and we are ready to encourage their aspirations: the best of them will receive additional points for individual achievements upon admission."

Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Municipal Services Dmitry Ulrikh noted: "The faculty works closely with schools in St Petersburg and the Leningrad region, developing career guidance programs, including long-term ones, where students can come to the university, immerse themselves in the educational environment, and work on a project with the university's teachers."

Associate Professor at the Department of Geotechnics Sergey Lanko, speaking about the fields of study offered by the SPbGASU Faculty of Civil Engineering, emphasized: "Artificial intelligence won't build a building. Every blogger, doctor, and IT professional needs a building built by an engineer."

Denis Nizhegorodtsev, Director of the Educational Center for Digital Competence, discussed the implementation of the "Digital Construction Classes" project, highlighting its key features: "This is an educational program that provides practical knowledge; it focuses on modern technologies at the intersection of IT, construction, and 3D modeling; and it offers the opportunity to obtain a first profession—we already have cases where graduates of our project have found work as draftsmen immediately after school."