Ecology and Environmental Management in Volga State University of Technology

GONCHAROV Evgenii Alekseevich

Head of the Department

Achievements and awards. The grants of the Russian Geographical Society, the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (the UMNIK program), the scholarships of the Government of the Russian Federation and the V.I. Vernadsky Nongovernmental Ecological Foundation.

Teaching staff. The academic degree holders rate is 92%. The teaching staff includes two Doctors of Sciences and 13 Candidates of Sciences, two teachers are holders of the titles of Honored Worker of Higher Education of the Russian Federation and Honored Worker of Education of the Russian Federation. The specialists of specialized organizations and enterprises are also engaged in the teaching process.

Facilities and resources. The university has the laboratory of physicochemical and biological analysis of environmental objects (accredited by the Federal Service for Accreditation), the radioecology laboratory (established in cooperation with Russian Institute of Agricultural Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk), the learning laboratories of biotesting of waste and environmental objects, geography and geoecology, the laboratory of geology and soil science, "Ecologist's Workplace" (equipped with software from the Integral company), the laboratory of geoinformation systems and remote sensing methods, the mobile field learning and research laboratory.

Research. The promising research areas include the following: environmental monitoring of natural and man-made territories; aerospace technologies in ecology and environmental management; recreational use of natural resources.

Education. The teachers use state-of-the-art educational technologies: multimedia lectures, case technologies, business games and role plays, the project method, round tables, field trips, practical field training and work placement, and other teaching methods.

Strategic partners. The university cooperates with Ogarev Mordovia State University, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Russian Institute of Agricultural Radiology and Agroecology, state nature reserves and national parks of Russia; the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology and Environmental Protection of the Mari El Republic, and the leading specialized enterprises of the region.

International projects and programs. The institute implements the Master's program in Geomatics in Nature Management (under the direction of Professor E.A. Kurbanov) at the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence "European Expertise and Technology for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Forestry" (SUFEX). The partners are European Forest Institute, Laboratory of Forest Management and Remote Sensing of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Competitive advantages. Ecologists and natural resource users have been trained since 1997. Particular attention is paid to practice-oriented training in the field of environmental support for enterprises and government environmental oversight. Students do practical field training and undertake work placements (in Russia and abroad). They have an opportunity to study abroad as part of the double degree program.