The Higher Education Review

Established in 2010, on the basis of the leading regional universities and colleges, the Northern Arctic Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov (NARFU) is a brand new ambitious university of distinctiveness and innovations designed to meet the needs of the Arctic. Set up with the mission of opening a new page in the high latitude investigation and establishing an innovation and human resource base to foster knowledge-based exploration of the Arctic, NARFU creates conditions necessary to support the industrial projects being launched in the polar region with personnel and technologies.

Today, when high technologies are changing very quickly, practical approaches and individualization of learning are very important. In this regard, the main educational trends are the project approach, the detailing of education, and a network with science and business. “Our university, while forming educational programs, is guided by these key ideas. We offer individualized education according to the requests of our students. The educational programs are very flexible and allow to adjust to the interests of students. Education in NARFU is practice-oriented: in all our education programs we have either business, industrial or technological partners involved. Students while at the university do internships in operating companies located in the Arctic region.

We follow the approach of ‘education through science’, where we teach students to use the updated equipment in connection with the latest technological and scientific solutions that we incorporate into the educational process. Besides, interdisciplinarity is of great importance because the current professions are getting more complex due to developing technologies. Therefore, we offer students comprehensive knowledge that covers different disciplines”, briefs Elena Kudryashova, Rector, Northern Arctic Federal University.

Contributing towards Intellectual Capacity of the Community
NARFU has been actively cooperating with the countries of the CIS and the Asia-Pacific region, where it has more than 30 partners. In general, on an annual basis, NARFU offers more than 10 international English-language online schools on Arctic topics as well as the study of the Russian language and culture, semester, and master's programs that are popular among students from different regions of the world.

These are truly frontier studies at the cutting edge of modern science and the current agenda in the development of the Arctic region. Russian scientists and researchers have accumulated vast experience in organizing the work of interdisciplinary teams within the thematic networks including partner universities in different countries. The university actively participates implementing joint international educational programs including double degree ones with international partners.

The university offers a wide range of high-quality programs of higher, postgraduate, and vocational education intended to meet global challenges and prepare students for success. Besides the Arctic-focused programs, NARFU remains a classical university implementing over 300 educational programs in the field of humanities, engineering and natural sciences. The existing educational potential allows NARFU to carry out research on a wide range of topics related to shipbuilding and ship repair, energy supply systems based on alternative energy sources, the development of maritime and land transport and logistics, ecology, information technology, oil development, and transportation, the adaptation of indigenous peoples in the face of climate change, teacher education, and more.

“Being a promising research platform, our university stands a good chance to become a recognized ‘manufacturer’ of life-changing technologies and innovations in the Arctic region through expanding the range of courses and strengthening research performance in the Arctic region”, adds Elena Kudryashova. Being a door opener to the world of global education, NARFU gives its students and fellows a unique possibility to gain experience in teaching, studying, and researching abroad in partner universities.

Welcoming International Students
Northern Arctic Federal University welcomes foreign citizens and compatriots living abroad RF Government Quota Programme covers tuition fees for selected educational programs at NARFU in the form of scholarships. Foreign citizens are provided with equal rights with Russian students throughout the learning period. Prospective students are welcome to take undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate degree programs. The university implements five international educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, 2-semester English-language programs, joint programs, about 50 courses and modules in a foreign language, and more than 10 international schools on Arctic topics are organized annually.

The Indian students can start their acquaintance with NARFU by applying for the annual International Ph.D. School 'Russia in the Arctic Dialogue: Global and Local Context'. An intensive lecture program covers the most pressing issues of the Global Arctic: international relations, transport systems, and logistics, climate change in the Arctic, indigenous peoples issues, and governing the northern territories. The leading scientists and experts from China, Norway, Switzerland, and Russia share their knowledge, expertise, and vision with students during lectures and discussion sessions.

All international students both non-degree and degree- seeking coming to NARFU will have a student tutor or a student assistant helping them throughout their first semester. The university provides a set of measures aimed at successful adaptation to the living conditions in the Northern region, effective integration into the educational environment of the university, and the socialization of newly arrived foreign students. The international office advises foreign students and gives information support throughout

the entire admission campaign. Activities for the adaptation of foreign students include curation of training, information support, and creative and educational online projects that are implemented as part of the Discovering the Russian North project. Thus, thanks to the measures taken, the admission of foreign students from countries near and far abroad has a constant positive growth trend.

Towards Future Growth
Since NARFU’s foudation in 2010 as a federal university the strategy of the university has changed from the image of ‘the only federal university located in the Russian Arctic’ to the image of the university as a representative of Russia in the global dialogue on big challenges in the Global Arctic. The university has managed to transform both the internal structure and the corporate culture since. Human and technical resources of 53 faculties, institutes, and colleges were concentrated in eight educational and scientific Higher Schools of NARFU. The number of master’s and postgraduate programs has significantly increased from 58 to Replace with 306. Ten years ago, there were no Arctic-related programs at NARFU, now there are more than 100 of them.

The technological infrastructure in the labs and research centres of NARFU puts it at the same competitive level as the leading universities and research centres in the world and Japan. The availability of advanced equipment has also led to a fivefold increase in the number of scientific works by local researchers. The scientific team of NARFU also has the highest indicators of scientific publications in the Russian Arctic. To add to it, NARFU has a brand new centre ‘Digital Arctic’ and is constructing the campus up to the latest world standards.

Advising future students, Elena Kudryashova says, “Seek out special opportunities in our Arctic university to expand your mind and your experiences, your world to become a unique professional with real Arctic experience. We promise high-level Arctic-related education”.

"Seek out special opportunities in our arctic university to expand your mind and your experiences, your world to become a unique professional with real arctic experience"

Elena Kudryashova, Rector
Elena Kudryashova is the Rector of the Northern Arctic Federal University. Doctor of Sciences (Philosophy), Professor. Lectured at George Washington University, the University of Oregon, and Lewis & Clark College (US). In the early going, Elena worked as a school teacher (History and English); then as an assistant, senior lecturer, assistant professor, and professor at the university. Later she worked as head of the division of science and tertiary education of the Arkhangelsk Region Administration. Vice-Governor for Social Policy of the Arkhangelsk Region. Since 2010, Rector of the Northern Arctic Federal University. She is a current member of the Research and Education Council under the RF President, the Expert Panel under the RF Ministry of Education and Research, the Expert Council for Arctic and Antarctic under the RF Federation Council, and many others. Author of over 80 academic papers. Academic focus: research on leadership; history of science and education.