Today, on June 16, the II Postgraduate innovation camp "China–Shanghai Cooperation Organization Postgraduate Innovation Training Center" started at BNTU. The event is taking place within the framework of the X Meeting of Ministers of Education of the SCO member states.
Before the start of the main program of the camp, Ksenia Yakushenko, Vice-rector for Scientific Work at BNTU, spoke about the significance of the event and the forms of work.
— We are pleased to welcome the delegates of the II China–SCO Postgraduate Innovation Camp today. This camp is held as part of the China-SCO Postgraduate Innovation Training Center. The initiative was launched in 2025, when Harbin Polytechnic University of the People's Republic of China invited representatives from 13 universities from 6 countries to participate in the innovation center. Representatives of universities from the Republic of Belarus, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation have come to us today. The delegations include heads of innovation centers within universities and our graduate students who will participate directly in the camp. The proposed program is quite broad and extensive, with the participation of vice-rectors of universities. We will hold panel sessions with graduate students and share our experience in preparing them for further dissertation defense.
The large-scale camp started with the registration of participants, followed by a rich program for the first day: an introduction to the BNTU infrastructure, guided tours of research laboratories and competence centers, as well as a series of working meetings.
For example, at the Center for Technical Hydromechanics and Hydraulic Machines, Igor Trofimov, a leading engineer at BNTU, Igor Kachanov, head of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Energy Construction, Water Transport and Hydraulics, and Vyacheslav Vlasov, senior lecturer at the Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Energy Construction, Water Transport and Hydraulics, vividly demonstrated to the guests the operation of a siphon spillway and the physics of wave processes. This allowed the participants to see the application of theory to real engineering facilities right in the classroom.
Then Yulia Kasach, head of the Digital Engineering Competence Center, showed the graduate students modern laboratories specializing in cyberphysical technologies, engineering and additive manufacturing. A pleasant addition to the technical part was the opportunity to test virtual reality technologies — with the help of VR glasses, the guests took an interactive walk around Minsk.
During the excursion program, a participant of the camp from China shared her emotions.:
— It was very interesting to observe the processes that are usually found only in life. It's a great experience when theory is backed up by practice. We feel incredible hospitality, we see cutting-edge technologies, and we really hope that academic cooperation between our countries will only expand in the future.
Representatives of BNTU also met with a delegation from Harbin Polytechnic University within the framework of the II Postgraduate innovation camp "China–Shanghai Cooperation Organization Postgraduate Innovation Training Center".
The parties discussed key areas of cooperation, including the training of graduate students with dual leadership, the creation of joint scientific laboratories and the conduct of fundamental and applied research. Special attention was paid to academic exchange and the formation of a single platform for the effective exchange of knowledge.
The negotiations have become a solid foundation for long-term cooperation, which will bring the training of highly qualified personnel to a fundamentally new level and strengthen BNTU's position as one of the key nodes of the international scientific and educational space within the SCO.
This is how the first day of the II postgraduate innovation camp "China – Shanghai Cooperation Organization Postgraduate Innovation Training Center" was held, and the camp participants will have at least two eventful days ahead.
