Belarusian students became champions and bronze medalists of the CASE-IN engineering championship

Students of the Belarusian-Russian University became winners and prize-winners of the X anniversary season The International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN", part of the the presidential platform "Russia – the land of opportunities".  Future specialists and metallurgists have achieved a triumph, surprising the industry community with innovative developments at the final of the championship in Moscow.

The CASE-IN Championship is an international system of competitions for solving engineering cases among schoolchildren, students and young specialists in the fuel and energy and mineral resource complexes, the nuclear industry and related industries.

The theme "Industry 4.0" permeated the cases of all the championship competitions.

The final of the jubilee X championship brought together 506 future engineers and 94 young specialists of fuel and energy and mineral resources complexes from 42 regions of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus at the NUST MISIS site in Moscow.

Opening the event, the founder and co-chairman of the organizing committee of the CASE-IN Championship Artem Korolev He said that the project started in 2013 with one student's specialty "Mining" and 13 participating universities. Today, these are 10 areas in the Student League, separate competitions for schoolchildren and young professionals, as well as dozens of corporate projects under the auspices of CASE-IN.

"The ten-year path of the championship was long and thorny, but at the same time it flew by in one breath. It took the organizers several years to work out all the details and convince the participants, experts and teachers of the practical significance of the project. Today, the CASE-IN brand is well-known in many universities, large companies, and even related industries. But the championship would not have been so successful without the support of our friends and partners: ANO Russia – the Land of Opportunities, federal agencies, industry companies and universities. Together, as one friendly team, we have educated more than one generation of promising future engineers. But we are not going to stop there. The championship has ambitious plans ahead – to become an integral part of educational and production processes in every specialized university in the country and an industry company. I am sure that in close cooperation with our partners we will be able to carry out our plans.", – underlined Artem Korolev.

Welcoming the finalists at the award ceremony, Director General of ANO "Russia – the Land of Opportunities" Alexey Komissarov He noted that in 10 years the Student League has become the most widespread in terms of the number and geography of participants.:

"If earlier the league brought together students of only "mining" universities, then in the jubilee X season 10 diverse areas are represented here: automation and IT, geological exploration, mining, mining machinery and equipment, metallurgy, oil and gas, petrochemistry, project engineering, industrial safety, electric power industry. 134 teams of 108 universities from 44 cities of Russia met in the final of the Student League, including a team from the Republic of Kazakhstan and 3 teams from the Republic of Belarus. I am sure that their ideas will find application at the country's leading production sites, and the contestants themselves will become highly qualified specialists in the foreseeable future."

Every year, the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation acts as the national partner of the championship. Guest of the final, State Secretary - Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Anastasia Bondarenko He believes that the engineering championship occupies an important place in the youth policy of the industry.

"The Russian Ministry of Energy has been supporting the championship for several years. In our opinion, the events that take place under the auspices of CASE-IN have a positive impact on the popularization of the fuel and energy complex and are already an integral part of the youth agenda of the fuel and energy complex. For young professionals, this is a good starting point and a promising opportunity to work in the country's leading companies.", – Anastasia Bondarenko noted at the award ceremony.

Representatives of the partner companies of the championship took part in awarding the champions and prize-winners: JSC SO UES, JSC ALROSA, PJSC YATEK, NIPIGAZ, JSC Gazstroyprom, PJSC SIBUR Holding, RUSAL, Micromine, JSC MHC EuroChem, IMC Montan.

The finalists defended the case solutions finalized after the qualifying stages. 

The participants of the Student League, on behalf of the partner companies of the championship, presented solutions in 10 industry areas: automation and IT, geological exploration, mining, mining machinery and equipment, metallurgy, oil and gas, petrochemistry, project engineering, industrial safety, electric power industry. Their own competitions were also held for young specialists of the fuel and energy Complex and MSK companies.

3 Belarusian universities took part in the championship: Gomel State Technical University named after P. O. Sukhoi, Belarusian State University of Transport and Belarusian-Russian University. Future power engineers from BelGUT and Sukhoi State Technical University and 4 BRU teams reached the finals: IT specialists, designers, power engineers and metallurgists.

The performance of the debutants of the "CASE-IN", students of the BRU, was triumphant. The BRU team (captain Vadim Milko, Yaroslav Kabashov and Nikita Kotegov) won the champion's cup in the new field of Automation and IT.

In the jubilee season, the direction supplemented the branch line of the Student League at the initiative of the new partner JSC Gazstroyprom. Awarding the winners of new directions, the Head of the Department of Personnel Selection and Adaptation of Gazstroyprom JSC Natalia Struzhinskaya commented on:

"We are delighted with the performances of the student teams and the quality of the solutions they presented. The unconventional outlook and the desire to prove themselves, which the contestants demonstrate, are especially appreciated by leading employers today. We will be glad to see the finalists as interns or even full-time specialists of Gazstroyprom JSC.

Future programmers and IT specialists from Mogilev have created an information and analytical system to analyze the presented data and identify the factors that have the greatest impact on the effectiveness of processes related to the management of construction machinery.

The guests of the championship managed to beat 11 youth teams from universities in St. Petersburg, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Tomsk, Khabarovsk, Rostov-on-Don, Novocherkassk and Karaganda in the fight for the first place.

"We are future programmers, so the experience of participating in this area will be extremely useful to us., – said the captain of the team Vadim Milko. –  The competition in the direction was very serious. We were able to create a solution that met all the requirements, and we were well prepared for the final presentation.  Our university is participating in the championship for the first time, and we are proud that the debut was successful, and we adequately represented our university on the international platform."

The winners believe that CASE-IN is a large community of intellectually developed young people who are ready to advance science and society to new achievements with their decisions.

 «CASE-IN" it opens up creative and scientific talents. We wish the project to expand its geography and the number of participants who, like us, could show all their best qualities.", - the students shared their victorious emotions.

Colleagues of the winners Vladimir Ushkov (captain), Nikita Dashevsky, Nikita Malinovsky and Sergey Morgunov from the VEP-191 team won bronze medals in the Metallurgy field.

The project of the Belarusian contestants was recognized as one of the most effective: the guys analyzed the process of obtaining an aluminum alloy of the required composition and assessed the possibility of using Industry 4.0 technologies to modernize and increase the efficiency of aluminum production.

Future Belarusian metallurgists competed for prizes with 8 of the strongest teams from universities in Lipetsk, Magnitogorsk, Novokuznetsk, Vladikavkaz, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk and Saratov.

The case was developed by RUSAL for the participants of the Metallurgy direction.

Director of the Digital Solutions Department of JSC United Company RUSAL Artur Arustamov He told me: "I actively follow the activities that our company conducts with schoolchildren and students, and I believe that we do it best of all. When I was invited to participate in one of these championships in the winter of 2022,"CASE-IN"I accepted this challenge with pleasure. Why the challenge? It was necessary to formulate a business task that would be interesting for students of all universities of the Russian Federation to solve and not only set the task, but also to learn from working together with students, with a generation that understands modern trends and technologies, and something new for our company. The solutions presented by the teams have already shown people who are ready for the challenges of Industry 4.0. The three teams from the finals were the most interesting, and they already highlight those with whom you can work on digital products in combat conditions."

The rest of the teams from Belarus were not included in the top three of their industry areas, but they are taking home valuable practical experience and ideas for new projects.

Mentor of the Belarusian-Russian University teams, Head of the Department of Software and Information Technology Victor Kutuzov He noted that the students who came to Moscow for the finals had demonstrated decent results, which would become a springboard to new achievements.   

"During the project, our students gained new knowledge, important competencies and practical experience in a competitive competition with the best students from universities in Russia and Kazakhstan. We also exchanged views with colleagues and peers from key specialized universities, and demonstrated the high level of training of our specialists. We will continue to strive to participate in the competition, because it broadens horizons, gives us experience in public speaking, and helps us discover our talents at a more professional level. Importantly, participants can get acquainted with a potential employer here, because the largest industry companies participate in the championship.", - Viktor Kutuzov summed up the results of his speech.

The fourth representative of the Republic of Belarus at the "CASE-IN" finals was the BulGUT KTP team, which performed in the field of "Electric Power Industry": Alexander Romanenko (captain), Vitaly Kozyrev, Dmitry Kryshchenko and Dmitry Pogorelsky.

Belarusian students were presented with well-deserved awards by heads of industry ministries and departments, as well as representatives of leading industrial companies. In addition to medals and cups, the guests of the championship had the opportunity to complete internships in the best companies with the possibility of further employment, as well as privileges for admission to the master's degree program of the partner universities of the championship.

Also, as part of the grand finale, the guys took part in the Career Days of the championship's partner companies and master classes of fuel and energy complex and MSC experts.