April continues to surprise. We look at what happened at the Polytechnic University from April 20–26 over the years in the latest issue of this column.
In 2011, the university hosted an off-site meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, chaired by Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich. On the agenda was the draft State Program for the Development of Higher Education for 2011–2015 – a document that largely determined the shape of Belarusian higher education for an entire five-year period. The choice of BNTU as the venue for this meeting was a testament to the university's standing in the national education system.
Now you see this news online, but previously it would have been read in the newspaper "Soviet Engineer." To stay informed about everything happening within the institute, staff and students read this newspaper. On April 22, 1985, it was awarded the Honorary Diploma of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR. This award recognized the long-term work of the editorial board, which had chronicled the life of the Polytechnic University for decades.
Today, the newspaper operates under the name "Vestsi BNTU," and university life can also be followed on the website times.bntu.by. Everything changes, but the desire to know what's going on at our beloved Polytechnic University remains constant.
Continuing with the theme of publishing, it's worth mentioning that its origins date back to 1935. It was then, on April 23, that the first issue of the mass-circulation newspaper "Za Proletarskogo Inzhenera" (For the Proletar Engineer) was published – the same one that would become "Soviet Engineer" in 1938, and later "Vestsi BNTU." Its pages covered the multifaceted life of BPI: from student life to scientific achievements, from sports victories to important university events. The last pre-war issue was published on May 31, 1941.
In 2024, the first session of the 7th All-Belarusian People's Assembly, the country's highest representative body of popular sovereignty, opened in the Palace of the Republic. Representatives of BNTU took their places among the nearly 1,200 delegates from across Belarus: Rector Sergei Kharitonchik, a student of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Secretary of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM) Alexei Balysh, and a student of the Faculty of Transport Communications, Miss Minsk 2023, and finalist of the Miss Belarus 2023 pageant, Nadezhda Tolstikova.
Before the session, BNTU delegates spoke with Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus Ekaterina Petrutskaya, discussing the importance of public participation in government decision-making. Alexey Balysh noted that he proudly represents the youth not only of the university but of the entire country. Nadezhda Tolstikova, in turn, emphasized the importance of the youth voice: out of 80 delegates representing the younger generation, she was one of those who spoke on behalf of Belarus's new generation.
In 2000, the Republican Institute for Knowledge Assessment was established at the Belarusian State Polytechnical Academy. This institution has since become an integral part of the country's educational system. Its main mission is to provide methodological and organizational support for the objective assessment of students' knowledge.
Over more than two decades of its operation, the Republican Institute for Knowledge Assessment has evolved into a structure that influences the fate of hundreds of thousands of applicants: the institute organizes centralized testing and centralized examinations, develops test materials, conducts mock tests, and ensures uniform assessment standards throughout the country. This important institution originated within the walls of the Polytechnic University.
On April 26, 2023, the State Committee for Science and Technology held its first "Best Expert of the Year" competition. Out of 843 specialists who prepared over 2,200 expert opinions in 2022, the competition committee selected three finalists. One of them was Vladimir Boykov, Head of the Tractors Department at BNTU, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, and Professor. A 1973 graduate of the Belarusian Polytechnic Institute, an Honored Inventor of the BSSR, a laureate of the State Prize in Science and Technology, and the author of over 300 scientific papers and over 160 inventions, this professional rightfully earned his place among the country's top experts.
A year later, on April 26, 2024, a ceremonial meeting of Belarusian youth with cosmonauts Marina Vasilevskaya and Anastasia Lenkova was held at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Among the more than 500 participants from the capital's universities and colleges were students and staff of BNTU. Polina Bukalo, a student in the Faculty of Marketing, Management, and Entrepreneurship, asked the Hero of Belarus about the reactions of her loved ones to her decision to conquer space, and after the meeting, she invited the cosmonaut to visit the university. Marina Vasilevskaya shared her impressions of her first glimpse of Earth from the ISS, and Anastasia Lenkova reminded everyone that space is not a distant abstraction, but a literal part of our daily lives.
This is what this week has been like in the history of BNTU – rich in events of all kinds. Read, flip through, and be proud. Until next time!
