The adress by Yury P. Pokholkov, AEER President

Dear colleagues!

Mission of the Association for Engineering Education of Russia is defined by its Charter in the following way:

To develop technical education and engineering profession in all their varieties involving educational, scientific and technological aspects that include teaching, consulting, research, development of engineering projects, technology transfers, providing a wide range of educational services, establishing ties with community, corporate and scientific spheres and integrating into international science and education.

We base the Association's activity on our belief that technical education belongs to the area of Russia's strategic national interests and, in the process of the country's transition to sustainable development, engineers become the key actors in the social and economic life of the society.

These ideas lay foundation for defining the objectives of the Association:

• building a system of and conditions for training and maturing of a new generation of highly-educated professionals in the engineering area capable of maintaining a stable dynamic development of economy and achieving the break-through progress in practical fields;
• revival of engineering schools of Russia, concentration and full use of the engineering potential of Russia for new strategies and policies in leading the country out of its present social and economic crisis;
• endorsing activities toward connecting the efforts of the government, educational institutions, organizations, firms and general public in giving the primary concern to development of technical education on the basis of progressive pedagogical thinking, use of "high" educational technologies, combining the best national traditions and international experience in training engineers;
• assisting the development of institutions for technical education and establishing a modern material foundation for engineering education, improvement of the content of technical education, attaining its fundamentalization, humanization and professionalization, developing quality assurance in education through independent professional accreditation of degree programs, forming a high-level informational culture of the technical education system, targeting the language training to a fluent use of a foreign language as a tool of intercultural communication, increasing the academic mobility of students;
• establishing and expanding ties and cooperation with associations, foundations and foreign universities and organizations for exchange of specialists, interns, graduate and undergraduate students, visits of international students to study in Russia as well as exchange of ideas and experience on developing the higher education and engineering profession;
• creation of a system for support of the socially prestigious quality of technical education and engineering profession.

For realization of these objectives the Association performs the following main tasks:

• elaboration and continuous updating of the doctrine of technical education, participation in development of educational standards;
• concentration of the professional potential of the Association members on the break-through technologies and directions that lead Russia out of the social and economic crisis and creat conditions for prosperous life of its people;
• organization and continuous improvement of the system of independent professional accreditation od engineering degree programs as an effective tool for developing quality assurance in engineering education;
• monitoring and analysis of international, regional, national and sub-national markets for interllectual labor and production;
• organization of national and international conferences focused on issues of technical education and engineer profession;
• publishing the "Russian Engineering Education" journal;
• compilation by the leading experts, publishing and distribution of periodic informational and analytical digests on the issues of engineering education;
• organization of and participation in international exhibitions of educational programs, engineering and scientific projects and products;
• setting up on-line commercial-access electronic data bases in Russian and English for:
  • education services and engineering projects offered by technical education institutions;
  • graduates of degree programs from technical education institutions of Russia;
  • vacancies for specialists of engineering profiles;
  • demanded in engineering projects;
• development and maintenance of the Association's Web server and publishing electronic Bulletin;
• organization of student exchanges between Russian and foreign universities;
• organization and coordination of work on development and implementation of engineering study programs in the English language for foreign students;
• assistance in founding foreign branches and offices for the Association members;
• coordination of the language training system for engineers;
• assistance organization and coordination of work by the Association members on practice sites in the leading national and foreign scientific and experimental production firms , establishing and updating data bases on internship opportunities;
• organization of national competitions of ingeneering ideas and projects in various nominations;
• organization of professional associations and holding conventions for deans, department chairs, vice-rectors of educational institutions;
• organization of congresses for engineers (regional and national);
• certification of Russia's engineer corps.

Members of the Association have rights and privileges for discounts and/or free subscription to analytical and informational materials and scientific magazines, priority in participation in projects, conferences, national competitions and other events organized by the Association.

Dear colleagues! We hope that you share our concern with the state of engineering education and are willing to participate in it's development.

President of the Association for Engineering Education of Russia,
the President of Russia Award in Education winner
Yury Р. Pokholkov