By Irina Dergach
The BSU will reach its 100th anniversary as a powerful educational, scientific and spiritual centre in Belarus. We’re dynamically developing and our well-coordinated teamwork has allowed us to strengthen the university’s ranking worldwide. The British QS Agency annual ranking sees the BSU entering the top 700 universities globally this year; we’re placed in the 501-550 segment, which is not a bad result, considering that 25-30 thousand universities are assessed. However, we aim to raise our ranking to within the top 100. We’re always among the top ten educational establishments in the CIS university ratings, as well as those for Central and Eastern Europe.
The number of applicants to the BSU rises every year, always exceeding the number of places. Despite the demographic crisis, the BSU still boasts high results.
In April 2012, our country will join the Bologna Process. Will anything change for BSU students?
Nothing will change drastically. We’ve already had a two stage preparation system and the Code on Education has introduced a practical Master’s programme. The diploma supplement is on the European model, so employers from European countries will be able to understand what a student has covered.
Does the University plan to offer new courses next year?
We’re currently studying this issue. The BSU introduces new specialities every year: last year, these were biochemistry, microbiology and information resource management. These are already becoming popular. We plan to offer 2012 alumni several more interesting specialities, including social communications, geo-demography and crisis psychology. There are also proposals connected with IT security.
BSU scientists helped create software for the Large Hadron Collider and have developed components for space satellites. Does the BSU hope to launch its own satellite?
Yes, our university has always been involved in Belarus’ space projects and aims to continue this tradition. We boast everything needed to make our own satellite and have negotiated many times with the Moscow State University on a joint launch. We’re working in this direction while simultaneously developing our education. Last year, we introduced the study of aerospace information technologies and systems, which proved immediately popular.
In 2009, BSU joined the European University Association and, in 2010, had its quality management system certified in compliance with ISO 9001 international requirements.
