Pacific National University


Pacific National University is one of the largest universities in Khabarovsk, Russia. Established in 1958, today the university trains over 21,000 students in 54 academic majors.

History

Khabarovsk Automobile Highway Institute was founded by the Order of the USSR Ministry of Higher Education No. 351 on March 29, 1958. M.P. Danilovsky became its first president and exercised authority for the next 30 years. The first enrollment was about 150 students. The university trained students in the following majors: Industrial and Civil Engineering, Highway, Motor Transport, Construction and Highway Machines and Equipment. The first engineering students graduated in 1963.
In the beginning, the construction of the main and laboratory buildings, dormitories and other campus buildings was carried out. In 1962 there were five departments: Engineering Department, Mechanical Department, Automobile Department, Highway Department, and the Forest Engineering Department. Students were trained in 10 majors. By that time the enrolment increased to 1150 students. Following the Decree of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers Khabarovsk of July 12, 1962, No. 737-311, Khabarovsk Automobile Highway Institute got the status of Khabarovsk Polytechnical Institute.
In 1967, the construction of campus buildings was finished. By that time, Khabarovsk Polytechnical Institute consisted of 10 departments: Mechanical Department, Engineering Department, Chemical Engineering Department, Automobile Department, Highway Department, Forest Engineering Department, National Economy Department, Evening Studies Department, Extra-Mural Department, and General Technical Department. The university trained engineering students in 18 majors.
In 1975, a branch of Khabarovsk Polytechnical Institute was founded in Magadan city. The reason was the necessity of training engineering staff in the Magadan region.
Khabarovsk Polytechnical Institute received a new status – University, and a new name – Khabarovsk State University of Technology in December 1992. Following the order of the Federal Agency for Education of March 23, 2005, No. 170, the university was renamed Pacific National University.
Pacific National University is one of the largest institutions of higher education in the Russian Far East.
The university is a member of the Eurasian Association of Universities.

Today

Today PNU structure comprises eight institutes and three departments :
Today the university trains more than 21,000 students in 61 majors of basic higher professional education, 32 Bachelor's degree programs, 26 Master's degree programs, 40 scientific majors of postgraduate education. There were 900 members of academic staff at Pacific National University, among them 102 full professors and over 426 associate professors.

Research activities

More than 20 internationally recognized scientific schools were established at PNU. PNU scientific researches are carried out in physical and mathematical sciences, including Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Information and Telecommunication Technologies, Nanotechnologies, Material Science, Mechanical Engineering, Architecture and Urban Planning, Sociology, Economics, Jurisprudence, etc.
During the last years PNU scientists got world-level results of research projects in Mathematics, Nuclear Theory, Thermal Conductivity Modelling, Kinetics of Combustion Processes, Software and Data Communications, Probability Theory, Magneto Optic Phenomena within the frames of fundamental research. There were also created Mathematical Models, Algorithms, Software Tools of Submerged Images Processing, and there investigated the Effect of a Nanosecond Electromagnetic Pulse Irradiation on Physical Properties of Alloys.
The main fields of applied researches are the following: Measuring, Calculation and Control Devices, Information Processing Systems; Computer-Based Information Systems Design; Development of Robot System including Submerged Robotics; Applied Material Science; Improvement of Technological Processes and Machines and Mechanisms Engineering; Improving the Efficiency of Transportation Using and Improvement of its Operating Characteristics; Engineering of Logging Technologies and Timber Processing; Problems of Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection; Forest Reserve Restoration; Alternative Energy Sources Generation; Design of Industrial and Civil Buildings and Constructions; Development of Modern Construction Technologies and Operation of Transport Facilities.
Annually more than 600 scientific papers which cover the results of PNU scientific research are published in leading Russian and foreign journals and paper collections of international conferences. The university scientists take part in international conferences and symposiums in China, the United States, Japan, Portugal and other countries.
Continuous development of material and technical basis of the university and use of modern scientific equipment contributes to the increase of research effectiveness. There are more than 20 laboratories, more than 20 Scientific-Educational and Engineering Centers and 2 students’ Design Engineering Bureau at PNU.
The university pays great attention to the development of innovation activity associated with realization of research works results by the industrial enterprises and also tries to make professional and teaching staff engaged in applied researches. During the last years, PNU has established a number of innovative subdivisions: Innovation and Technology Centre, Technology Transfer Center in Khabarovsky krai, Impulse Center, Nonprofit Partnership “Far Eastern Technology Transfer Center”. There was also implemented the project of Students’ Business Incubator.
The results of many applied research works were realized by Far Eastern industrial enterprises such as "Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association" named after Yuri Gagarin which is included in corporation “Suhoi”, Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur petroleum refineries, JSC “Far Eastern Generating Company”, enterprises involved in Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration Projects the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 and by other enterprises. The University teams of researchers actively participate in various competitions for conducting researches within the framework of the Federal Target Programs, Scientific and Technical Programs, Grants in different scientific fields.
Annually research projects of PNU scientists are presented at Major International Scientific and Technical Exhibitions, including Moscow International Salon of Innovations and Investments, International Exhibition & Congress “High Technologies. Innovation. Investments”, Moscow International Salon of Industrial Property “Archimedes”. They were mentioned with a lot of highest awards, including gold and silver medals. Annually, PNU staff and teams of researchers receive not less than 50 patents, certificates of registration of computer programs. The effectiveness of obtaining patent protection is 80 percent of number of applications for inventions and utility models. Totally PNU scientists submitted 298 inventions and utility models for patenting and obtained 259 patents since 2000 till 2008.
The Department of Industrial and Intellectual Property provides legal protection of research results at the university. In 2008 the Regional Patent and Reference Information Centre was established at PNU in the frames of project “The Development of Nanotechnology Industry Infrastructure in Russian Federation in 2008-2010”. Its primary functions are to provide advisory services on intellectual property protection; to provide access to databases of State System of Scientific and Technical Information; to carry out analytical, patent research; methodological and consulting support for registration of IP Rights
PNU Ph.D. degree program is conducted in 40 majors, including 5 majors appeared in 2007 -2008. PNU Doctorate degree program is conducted in 7 majors.
There are 6 dissertation councils at PNU, which work in 11 majors. The university is a cofounder of four joint dissertation councils. These councils were established on the basis of other higher educational institutions and work in 7 majors. During last three years there were defended 3 doctoral theses 76 PhD theses at PNU dissertational councils.
PNU pays great attention to the students’ research work. A great part of students begin to participate in research work when they are second - third year students and already actively engaged in research work in main research fields of their chairs when they are already forth – fifth year students. Students’ research work is conducted either within the educational process or during extracurricular activities at the University Chairs, Research Laboratories, students’ Scientific Societies and students’ Design Bureaus.
Every year over 3000 students participate in SRW events. They participate in all-Russia Contests and Competitions, Inter-University Conferences, International Competitions. During last five years students submitted more than 1000 research papers for the different contests and received more than 600 diplomas, awards, letter of commendation for the participation in the contests, competitions, conferences and exhibitions.

Student life

Pacific National University has a modern information and education complex that includes:
Technical equipment of PNU informational complex makes it possible to solve issues related to the informatization of the education process and the university control system, to realize informational-training systems, and to conduct research. There are 2200 computers, 40 computerized classrooms at PNU, where practical training in information technologies majors are conducted. There are many classes with installed interactive whiteboards. The university has its own maintenance and repairing service.
The local area network is built using a fiber optic cable. Technics and technologies applied for LAN development made possible to create the universal telecommunication medium. Its functions are transferring and switching of traffic of any type and providing an unlimited set of services under the standard rules and protocols. This medium has a services creation, control, personalization capability. Now, more than 1,750 computers are connected to the LAN, 40 servers and 110 units of network equipment are constituent part of the united network.
PNU informatization department developed and realized project of informatization systems of complex automation of the University administrative, educational and scientific activities. Internet system of distance learning is developing: a data portal was created, through which the system of knowledge delivery was organized; currently Educational and Methodical Complex of 470 the Disciplines is available on website. There was created system of intermediate control of knowledge by means of adaptive testing system AST-3, where offered test for passing 470 examinations and credits. There is also offered client-server system for on-line passing examinations and credits. There is developed and successfully applied the technology of operative creation of electronic textbooks and courses of lectures in chm, djv, pdf formats. Today, more than 3500 students of Extra-Mural Department and Extra-Mural Department for Extension Training actively use the data portal and AST-3 system in educational process.
Pacific National University is actively involved in the informatization process of educational system at the regional level. These problems are solved by the University subdivision - Khabarovsk Regional Center of New Information Technologies. PNU communication center provides a sure high-speed access to Russian educational networks and international educational networks, to the Internet, as well as to the regional educational resources – resources of the universities and of the academic institutions in the region - for all PNU subdivisions.
Besides, PNU communication center provides management and technical support to the telecommunication industry network of science and higher education institutions of Khabarovsky krai and provides functioning of Khabarovsk Regional Educational Information Network. KREIN includes about 290 schools of Khabarovsky krai, 21 posts of the inter-school methodical centers system, three approbation centers of the secondary education system, leading institutions of higher education and research institutes, the Ministry of Education and 15 departments of Education in districts of Khabarovsky krai, a number of Khabarovsk colleges.
There was designed portal Paydeyya " at PNU to form a regional educational content and create Internet sites for the regional educational telecommunication projects. This portal was designed for students’ of general and professional educational institutions usage, lecturers in general and special subjects, parents and educational community. There are presented and regularly replenished materials for students, materials for teachers and lecturers and special educational programs in the portal.
In 2009 a compute cluster was put into commission at PNU with the following specifications: peak performance - 0,93 TFLOPS, 6 knots, the total number of quad-core processors - 24, RAM - 192 GB, disk space - 2.5 TB, operating system is SUSE Linux. The cluster is designed to conduct research in various fields of applied mathematics, theoretical physics, modeling of various processes, economics, to use in educational process for a number of majors at PNU.
The journal “Information Science and Control Systems” is published with the active assistance of PNU scientists. The creator and chief editor of the journal is Evgeny Eremin, Vice-President for Research and Informatization, Doctor of Engineering.
In October 2009, the analytical survey “Apply of Automated Control Systems to Institutions of Higher Professional Education activities in Russian Federation” was prepared in the State Institute of Information Technologies and Telecommunications "Informika" on the basis of research of automated control systems in 673 Russian state and municipal institutions of higher education.
Pacific National University became one of the 55 best Russian institutions of higher education that received the highest scores in all examined ACS areas.

PNU Scientific Library

The PNU Scientific Library is the largest among the university libraries in the region. PNU library is the Regional Methodical Centre for 94 state and commercial libraries of institutions of higher education and specialized secondary educational institutions in Khabarovsky krai and Amur Oblast. PNU Scientific Library is a member of ARLICON, a co-founder of TRICON, a member of RLA, and initiator of foundation of the Library Corporation in Khabarovsk.
There are about 1.6 million volumes; about 1 million documents, including electronic ones, are delivered to the readers. Annually the library serves over 22,000 readers; 700,000 attend the library per year. Annually storage is increased by over 30,000 editions.
The overall University Network consists of 4 information centers, operates a local network which contains 113, 56 Sun computer terminals, 10 touch screen kiosks and 5 servers PCs, situated in the library, and has Internet access. All the basic processes, relating to the assets acquisition and scientific document processing, are computer-assisted on the base of Automated Library Information System «RUSLAN» и «MARC SQL». Library serves readers in automated mode by the unified library card through bar-coding technology and integration. Catalog of Electronic Texts contains over 350 thousand records and available either to readers of PNU Scientific Library or to the remote users.

Publishing

Publishing activity is carried out by Pacific National University Publishing House, which was established in 1993. It consists of three sections: editorial, computer-generated, operative printing quality. PNU Publishing House is modernized with printing and bookbinding equipment.
The main purpose of PNU publishing activity is to provide scientific and educational process at the University through high-quality competitive publishing and printing products. PNU publishing production makes up about 10 percent of the PNU Scientific Library book fund. Every year the University Publishing-Library Council develops annual publications chart. It was established to coordinate activities of Publishing House, Scientific Library, Chairs and other PNU subdivisions.
Annually PNU Publishing House issues 10-12 monographs; 20-30 collection of scientific works; 35–45 titles of learning aids and textbooks; 120-150 titles of instructor's manual for all types of training courses and students' self-training; 20-40 thesis abstracts; 30-40 titles of earlier issued printings, etc.
A number of publications issued by PNU Publishing House were awarded at the 13th Far Eastern Fair-Exhibition "Printing House - 2009". Three-volume edition Pacific National University, released to mark the 50th PNU anniversary, awarded a gold medal in nomination "Albums, Anniversary Editions". “Polylogue in contemporary architectural and artistic images ” and “Dispersal of borehole charges”, books issued by PNU Publishing House, received Diploma of the Fair-Exhibition in nomination «Monographs». Seven editions issued by PNU Publishing House were awarded at the Second Far Eastern Regional Contest “University Book 2009”. “Bulletin of PNU” awarded diploma for participation in the contest “The Best Scientific Publication” in nomination “Serial Edition”. PNU Publishing House is a member of the Publishing-Polygraphic Association of Universities of Russia since 2006.

International cooperation

PNU maintains international relationship with more than 120 foreign partners from 21 countries. The most contracts were signed with countries of Russia's Far East Near Abroad - countries of the Asia-Pacific region, and especially the bordering countries - the People's Republic of China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Korean Democratic People's Republic. In these countries PNU maintains relationships with 71 partners: universities, research centres, production companies, administrative bodies.
According to long-term programs of international cooperation the University carries out activities in academic and students’ exchange, joint research, innovation and technological, educational, cultural and business projects. PNU also trains international students and international Ph.D. students and send Russian students for training abroad. During last years PNU issues Diplomas of Partner-countries under the program of educational cooperation.
PNU is one of the organizers and active participants of the International Forum of University Presidents of Far East and Siberia, Russia and north-eastern provinces of China. The 8th Forum took place in October 2009 in Dalian, where 45 Russian and 35 Chinese institutions of higher education were presented.
PNU has realized and is realizing the following international research and educational projects.
Annually PNU trains more than 400 international students. Totally more than 1600 international students, Master's students, Ph.D. students, interns studied at PNU since 1989 to 2009.
The university is certified by international standard ISO 9001:2008 for the provision of educational services.

Important events of 2009

Dmitry A. Medvedev, Russian President visited Pacific National University, May 21, 2009. Dmitry A. Medvedev got acquainted with the exhibition-presentation "International and Frontier Cooperation of PNU”, visited PNU Scientific Library and talked with students for more than an hour.
The Ninth International Research Conference “The new ideas of new century - 2009” was carried out in February 2009. More than 500 participants from 32 universities, academies, institutions of 6 countries – Russia People's Republic of China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Korean Democratic People's Republic, the Republic of Uzbekistan - took part in it.
The compliance audit of the quality management system of the Pacific National University was carried out in April by the international standard ISO 9001:2008 “Quality Management Systems. Requirements”. The compliance audit was carried out by the independent non-profit organization NQA-Russia. According to the audit results there was made positive conclusion about the extension of the international certificate of QMS PNU validity, with the wording: “The University maintains QMS, improves the effectiveness, and preserves the integrity. The University decides issues of improving the educational process, further professional training of lectures, development of training facilities. Job quality management system contributes to the goals and policies of the University”.
Mr. Ohtsubo, the representative of company “Tokyo Seimitsu Co. Ltd” visited Pacific National University in May. During the visit, there were discussed the prospects of developing relations between the company and the University. Prof. Ohtsubo delivered lectures about modern semiconductor technology for PNU students.
The exhibition-presentation of “The main fields of Cross-Border Cooperation of Pacific National University” were carried out in June at PNU.
Delegation of Department of disaster prevention in Japan visited PNU in July and got acquainted with the educational process at the University and high level of training in “protection in emergency situations”.
Professor Sergei N. Ivanchenko, Dr. of Engineering, Pacific National University President, took part in the Eighth International Forum of University Presidents of Far East and Siberia, Russia and north-eastern provinces of China, which was held in Dalian.
In October events of the festival "Days of Science in the Far East" were held at PNU under the auspices of Dmitry Zimin Fund "Dynasty". PNU gave his audience to conduct master classes with teachers of physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology, as well as popular science lectures for schoolchildren. More than seven hundred guests - teachers and pupils from secondary schools, lyceums and gymnasiums of Khabarovsky Krai and other Far East regions attended the University.
International Russian-Chinese Symposium “Advanced Materials and Technologies - 2009” was carried out in October at Pacific National University.
The first enrolment for training in Journalism major at PNU was carried out.
Two young scientists, PNU representatives, received presidential grants in contest for Russian Federation President Grants 2009 according to the decision of Federal Agency of Science and Innovation Commission. Ernest Ri, Dr. of Engineering, Associate Professor, “Foundry technology and artistic processing of metals” Chair, received presidential grant for research on the theme "The influence of generator parameters of nanosecond electromagnetic pulses and vibratory processing of melts on the processes of crystallization of structure and properties of metallic alloys”. Lyudmila Zadvernyuk, Ph.D. in Architecture, Associate Professor, “Architecture and Urbanization" Chair, received a presidential grant for research on the theme “Urban planning culture of the State Bohai ".