From April 13^th till April 21^st, 2017 a group of PGUPS professors underwent internship in Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU) and Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU), China. The group was represented by Associate Prof. Nikolai Bushuev, head of the group and Dean of the Faculty of Transport Construction; Prof. Iurii Boronenko, Head of the Department of Railway Car Facilities; Associate Prof. Andrey Evstafiev, Head of the Department of Electric Power Traction; Associate Prof. of the Department of Railway Track Vladislav Zakharov; Associate Prof. of the Department of Electric Power Traction Andrey Kanaev; Associate Prof. of the Department of Construction of Routes in a Transportation System Aleksey Kolos; Associate Prof. of the Department of Railway Stations and Junctions Vladimir Kostenko; Head of the Department of Management of Maintenance Works Prof. Aleksey Kotenko; Prof. of the Department of Railway Car Facilities Aleksander Tretiakov. The plan to organise the internship was set up in 2016, during the meeting of Rector Alexander Panychev with his colleagues, Rectors of BJTU and SWJTU, and had been worked out during all that time.

Beijing and Southwest Jiaotong Universities are the biggest and the oldest transport universities in China. PGUPS has been maintaining close ties with both of them, which results in realisation of agreements on cooperation. Both of the universities have accepted delegations of professor and students of our universities. In its turn, PGUPS regularly meets delegations of these universities.

In BJTU the delegation members held talks with Vice-President Chen Feng and Vice-President of Research Prof. SUN Shouguang. The delegation was shown the laboratory facilities of the universities, e.g. visited National Engineering Research Centre of Rail Transportation Operation and Control System, Structural Strength Testing Laboratory Accredited by CNAS, Engineering Research Center of Electric Traction, etc.

The professors from Saint-Petersburg met with a group of 14 students, who had recently started their majors after a one-year course in Chinese. During the meeting, the students pointed out that they were more and more accustoming themselves to the specifics of Chinese education system, day after day improving their language skills and enjoying attending classes. The students thanked their professors and Russian and English speaking Chinese fellow students, who can help them mastering Chinese and other subjects as well as in everyday life.

The delegation visited High-speed train depot in Beijing, the city’s and the country’s biggest Beijing South Railway Station, where they got in a high-speed train and went to Tianjin and back.

After Beijing, the delegation flew to Chengdu — the administrative centre of Sichuan Province and a rapidly growing Southwest city with a population of 14 million people. The second biggest transport university in China is located there — Southwest Jiaotong University. The delegation visited State Laboratory of Traction Power and Laboratory of Rail Transport in which magnetic levitation transport systems are being elaborated. The guests also took a walk in a new 200 hectare campus of the university.

Both of the universities held joint Sino-Russian seminars in a wide range of questions, including organisation of researches, academic activity, and high-speed transport problems. After meetings the protocols were made up which will be forwarded to the administrations of the three universities.

On April 20^th, the final stage of internship and the final seminar took place, in which President of SWJTU Prof. Xu Fei, Rector of PGUPS Alexander Panychev and Vice-Rector Dr. Igor Kiselev, who had joined the delegation the day before that, took part.

In their speeches, the first persons of the universities underlined the significance of improvement of cooperation in academic and scientific areas. The parties considered the proposed plan of cooperation for future years.

Rector Alexander Panychev thanked his colleague from SWJTU for organising the internship and invited him to participate in the near scientific conferences and forums which will be hosted by PGUPS. The invitation was cordially accepted.

Just like they did during the previous visit to BJTU, PGUPS presented SWJTU with dozens of railway books. The Chinese side was glad to receive the gift, which will be a part of now being formed Russian professional literature collection in the university, and will play a significant role in development of ties between the universities.

In the end, the professors were awarded with certificates confirming that they had undergone internship.