International Student Competition named after Professor K. F. Bogatykh in discipline “Chemical Process Engineering” took place in Ufa on May 22 for the seventh time. The competition was held in the flagship university of Russia – Ufa State Petroleum Technical University (USPTU) – for students of engineering occupation from all over Russia, as well as from other countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Cuba and many others. The founder and general sponsor of the competition is traditionally Technology Engineering Holding “Peton”.
Four years after the first competition held in 2017, the event obtained international status due to the participation of students from the CIS countries. In 2021, the competition organizers expanded its format, giving students the opportunity to take part both in person and remotely. After the active phase of the pandemic, the organizers made a decision to keep the combined offline and online format of the event to provide an opportunity of participation to the widest possible circle of students.
This year, the competition hosted a total of 23 student teams – this is more than 80 people; 55 of them came to Ufa to take part in the competition in person, while the rest joined in tackling the tasks remotely. The competition had two forms – individual and team competitions. Senior full-time students of universities offering training in areas including discipline “Chemical Process Engineering” were invited to participate.
The competition is aimed at encouraging fresh graduates planning their professional activity in the oil and gas industry to think creatively and innovatively. The competition helps to popularize the professions of scientists, process engineers and designers and prepare recent graduates for the day-to-day realities and market needs, trains future engineers in handling non-routine tasks, cultivates the skills of making new technical decisions required for process engineers who will join design and scientific&research institutes dealing with the development of new technologies within the framework of import substitution.
Students from the following universities took part in person:
- USPTU (including branches in the cities of Salavat and Sterlitamak),
- Far Eastern Federal University (the city of Vladivostok),
- Russian University of Chemical Technology named after D. I. Mendeleev (including a branch in the city of Novomoskovsk),
- Moscow State Institute of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Automation – Russian Technological University,
- Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology (Technical University),
- Samara State Technical University,
- Kazan National Research Technological University,
- Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin,
- National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University,
- Tyumen Industrial University,
- Yaroslavl State Technical University, etc.
The teams of the following universities participated in the competition for the first time:
- Atyrau State University,
- Far Eastern Federal University (the city of Vladivostok),
- branch of the Russian University of Chemical Technology named after D. I. Mendeleev in the city of Novomoskovsk,
- National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University (the city of Tomsk),
- Omsk State University named after F. M. Dostoyevsky (the city of Omsk),
- a branch of the Russian State University of Oil and Gas named after I. M. Gubkin in the city of Orenburg,
- a branch of the Volgograd State Technical University in the city of Volzhsky.
The first place in the team competition was shared by students from USPTU and KNRTU (the city of Kazan). As for the individual competition, the winner for the second time was a student from USPTU Nikita Minchenkov, and the second place was taken by a student from USPTU (branch in the city of Salavat) Dan Sharafutdinov.
PETON prepared valuable prizes and memorable gifts for all participants and winners. The winners were awarded on May 23 within the framework of international specialized exhibition “Gas. Oil. Technologies”.
We talked to some of the competition participants and here is what they told us.
Far Eastern Federal University team, 3rd place in team competition: “This is the first time we are taking part in this competition. We came from far away and did not regret it. The impressions are more than positive: you have a very beautiful and cultural city, the people are positive and friendly. We also liked how the event was organized. The tasks were difficult, yet interesting; the most important, they were solvable. We are also planning to take part next year as well, this experience is a very interesting one. We were also glad to meet participants from other cities.”
Kazan National Research Technology University, 1st place in team competition: “It is the second year in a row that we become winners, this is very motivating! As for the individual competition, we managed to take 2nd and 3rd places. We would like to note that the tasks of this year are very interesting, the atmosphere and organization are good. Competition spirit is in the air. This year, there were tasks that we usually did not encounter in other competitions (extraction tasks), and also there were tasks focused on PETON – the major sponsor.”
Nikita Minchenkov (USPTU), 1st place in individual competition: “This is the second time I have taken part in this competition, and every time it is something new. It is especially interesting to compare this competition with the competition for processes and vessels held in Moscow – there are peculiarities everywhere. In the Moscow competition, the tasks are more of a fundamental nature, while we have a more applied one. This year, there were many unusual things: there was a rather difficult task related to thermal processes, although usually the most difficult tasks are dedicated to mass exchange.”