In the 2018-2019 academic years at South Ural State University, a program of project-based education is being officially introduced. In a few of the university’s subdivisions, including in the Polytechnic Institute, this academic technique has already been implemented for a few years. As part of a partnership between the Department of Machines and Processes of Pressure Metal Working, the Department of Mechatronics and Automation, and the Academic Techniques and Technologies Research and Development Institute, a project for preparing laboratory rolling mills and drawing benches is being executed.
“This is a collaborative project, where students of various majors complete one common task. Laboratory rolling mills and drawing benches are used in the academic process in colleges and universities. This is modern teaching equipment which can be used in small-batch production of wire or other innovative rolling products, as well as for research projects,” said the Head of the Department of Machines and Processes of Pressure Metal Working, Lyudmila Radionova.
Over the course of the project’s existence, many students who were directly involved in the development of rolling mills and drawing benches have graduated. In the previous academic year, the students Roman Lisovskiy of the Department of Mechatronics and Automation and Tatyana Lisovskaya of the Department of Automation and Management completed their master’s programs. Both graduates continued their education in postgraduate studies. This year, two more master’s degree students who made great contributions to the creation of teaching equipment are preparing for graduation: Maksim Zhludov (Department of Mechatronics and Automation), and Sergey Faizov (Department of Machines and Processes of Pressure Metal Working. At this time, this project is being worked on by Anton Makarov and Sergey Strugov, students of the SUSU Polytechnic Institute.
The students created 3 rolling mills and 3 drawing benches which have found use in academic institutions of various levels. The first drawing bench created by the students has been installed at the Department of Machines and Processes of Pressure Metal Working at SUSU. One drawing machine was obtained by A.V. Yakovlev Chelyabinsk State Industrial/Liberal Arts School. It will be used in the academic process for specialists who will work at ChTPZ.
The equipment created at South Ural State University is also used in technology parks. Two stands, a rolling mill and a drawing bench, were purchased by the largest innovative center of the Sverdlovsk Oblast – the Universitetskiy Technopark. The project of the Polytechnic Institute turned out to be in-demand abroad: three-stage drawing benches and rolling mills have been delivered to the Technopark of the University in Navoiy, Uzbekistan. One of the rolling mills will be presented at the Innoprom exhibition which will be held in July.
Besides work on the manufacturing of rolling mills and drawing benches, project-based education at the Polytechnic Institute also includes the continuing work of a project group of metallurgists, which brings in students of Department of Material Sciences and Metallurgical Technologies.
“We are the only supplier in Russia who produces teaching equipment for departments in the fields related to metallographic materials science. Students study and prepare samples of various steels and alloys for the whole country. Thanks to the project work, students solve practical tasks throughout the course of their education, which allows them to become in-demand specialists,” noted Lyudmila Radionova.
This project has existed for 4 years, and the master’s degree students of the project group have been employed to serious companies, including Ashinsky Metallurgical Plant OJSC and a private company for the manufacture of military equipment.