About 40 teams of engineering students are solving Arctic-related cases.

Today, on March 15, Tomsk Polytechnic University is hosting the qualifying stages in five areas of the Student League of the International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN". 39 teams of engineering students from TPU are competing to reach the finals. The main theme of the championship was the development of the Arctic.

The CASE-IN International Engineering Championship is a federal case championship in which students from leading technical universities in Russia and neighboring countries solve engineering cases: practical tasks based on real-world production situations in companies in the fuel and energy and mineral resource complexes. The championship is being held for the sixth time, Tomsk Polytechnic University has traditionally been one of the venues for the qualifying stages of the "CASE-IN".

Let's add that the qualifying stages at TPU are held in five areas at once: "geological exploration", "metallurgy", "petrochemistry", "oil and gas business", "electric power industry". The new one is "petrochemistry" — it was at Tomsk Polytechnic University that competitions in this field were launched for other participating universities. The strategic partner of the direction is SIBUR.

According to the Director of Human Resources Management at Tomskneftekhim LLC (a subsidiary of SIBUR) By Andrey Belov Participation in such championships allows companies to look at modern engineering students, understand how they think and what they are interested in, as well as replenish their talent pool. In addition, when solving cases, participants can propose non-standard solutions to improve the environmental friendliness, cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency of projects.

"We offer students practical cases that include tasks that they will have to face every day during their future work, which will need to be solved. Therefore, now they will be able to try their hand.

The case for the "petrochemistry" direction concerns the new ZapSibNeftekhim complex (a complex of deep processing of hydrocarbon raw materials into polyolefins with a design capacity of 2 million tons per year with corresponding facilities of a general factory is being built near Tobolsk.), it includes the tasks that the company is currently facing, which we solve on a daily basis. I think that when working on the case, the guys will be able to apply not only their practical skills, but will also develop the so—called soft skills — the ability to think outside the box, work in a team, negotiate with all participants and prove to everyone the correctness of their decision," said the company expert.

A total of 39 teams of Tomsk Polytechnic University students are taking part in the qualifying stages. Expert commissions will determine the winners in each direction. Vice-Rector for Educational Activities of TPU Alexander Wagner He stressed that participation in the "CASE-IN" offers students and universities new forms of personal development, assessment of professional and supra-professional competence of students and teachers.

"This form allows students to get acquainted with enterprises during their studies and form teams of professionals. I would like to note that all the participants of the previous years' championship, especially those who performed best, were noticed by future employers.

They were certainly attracted both in the framework of practical training and in the framework of employment," said the vice—rector.

It should be noted that the organizers of the championship from the Reliable Shift Charitable Foundation highly appreciated the level of organization of the qualifying stages at TPU.

"The level at TPU is growing every year. No wonder, I think, the opening of a new direction is being held here.

It is worth noting the very good, responsible attitude of the university, the teachers who work with the guys, and the number of interested teams.

In addition, we see how many industry experts come here to spend this day with the guys and evaluate their work," said the director of the foundation. Artem Korolev.

He added that the number of participants in the championship is growing every year. So, in 2018, the organizers expect about five thousand participants. A total of 111 qualifying stages will be held, involving 56 universities from Russia and 10 CIS countries.

"The championship has two main goals: it is, of course, the popularization of engineering and technical education and specialties in general, industries, as well as industry companies represented here, and universities. We are trying to convey to the general public that the engineering and technical field is very important for our country, that it is developing, and industry companies are waiting for talented young people. And the second goal, of course, is to help our students become even more professionally and personally developed thanks to the case methodology, as it allows them not only to learn more about their future industry and specialty, but also to learn how to work in a team, make presentations, and make projects," Korolev summed up.

After summing up the results of the qualifying stages, the teams that have proposed the best solutions for each of the areas will be identified. They will be able to participate in the championship finals, which will traditionally be held in Moscow on May 30-31.