OPEN DAY of Tomsk International Science Program

A new international bachelor program was presented at TSU

The Open Day of international Bachelor’s program, Tomsk International Science Program (TISP), was held at TSU. The program was developed by TSU in cooperation with the Maastricht University (Netherlands). This is a unique English taught interdisciplinary bachelor program in physics and mathematical and natural sciences in Russia.

The program was presented by a Director of TISP, Professor of TSU and UM, Herman Kingma.

- Why do I need a diploma, if I do not get a job afterwards? It is very important to organize training that focuses on the formation of knowledge and the development of the skills and abilities that are necessary for life and future career. It means that it is necessary to apply problem-practice-based education, allowing students to be engaged in the process of solving complex interdisciplinary and real life situations. Such educational approach contributes to the building of teamwork skills in intercultural groups, organized on the principles of self-management and interdisciplinary bounds - said Herman Kingma.

The program provides students with the choice and responsibility for their own education. Depending on their interests and level of study, under the guidance of a tutor, students can choose various courses in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and other interdisciplinary subjects, such as neuroscience. During their studies, students will develop projects to solve real- life problems. It will allow them to absorb new knowledge and develop soft skills quickly and effectively. After the first year, students will be able to determine their own learning path - choose the main track, major and minor educational modules, decide which online courses they want to take.

Lectures will be delivered by leading foreign experts: Thomas Cleij, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Engineering Sciences of the Maastricht University, Terrence Vincent Callaghan, a professor of TSU and the University of Sheffield, an outstanding researcher, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for studying climate change issues and others.

At the Open Day, the graduates of Tomsk International Science Honor’s Program presented their projects. The first team offered to organize healthy food in vending machines, which are located in the university buildings - less sandwiches and sugar, more nutritious bars and yogurts. The second team offered to recycle the garbage into ink for a 3D printer.

“There are students from Russia, India, Indonesia in the group, we decided to work with plastic, because we want the environment to be clean,” said Sahat Gokma Tua, a TSU student from Indonesia. “We want to encourage people to sort the garbage, and we have created an extruder for processing plastic waste into 3D printing ink. In the future, if this project is successful, we will collaborate with large Russian chain store systems such as Abrikos, Magnit”.

Due to the results of the first year the experts and the graduates of the program consider the problem-based method being a very effective approach in higher education nowadays.

For more information please visit the following web-site.