A working visit to Spain of the PSTU Rector Alexander Y. Panychev and Vice-Rector for International Cooperation and Public Relations Igor P. Kiselev (January 27 – February 2) came to an end. The delegation also included President of the International Foundation for Education and Culture (St. Petersburg) Gennady N. Popov and Director General of the Cultural Foundation “Alexander Pushkin” (Madrid) Alexander A. Chernosvitov. Both funds are actively involved in the implementation of the International Scientific and Educational Project «Heritage of Betancourt».

On February 1, 2016, negotiations between Rector of the PSTU Alexander Y. Panychev and representatives of the Government of the Canary Islands and Island of Tenerife were held.

Rector Alexander Y. Panychev and Vice-Rector Igor P. Kiselev attended the Deputy Minister of Education and Universities of the Canary Islands Juan Manuel Santana Perez and President of «Betancourt y Molina» Foundation (Santa Cruz, Tenerife) Francisco José Santos Mignon. Gennady N. Popov and Alexander A. Chernosvitov also took part in the conversation.

The Deputy Minister was presented the history and current status of Petersburg State Transport University, the detailed information about the plans of the Russian side on implementation of the «Heritage of Betancourt» Project was given.

Deputy Minister showed great interest in the proposed program and noted that educational institutions of the Canary Islands will take part in this project and preparations for the celebrations associated with the anniversary of Agustin de Betancourt in 2018.

President of the «Betancourt y Molina» Foundation Mr. Francisco José Santos Mignon spoke about the preparation of the exhibition dedicated to Agustin de Betancourt.

Participants of the meeting agreed to coordinate joint work on the Project, exchange of information, including on the websites of the organizations (pages in Russian, Spanish and English).

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On the same day the PSTU delegation and accompanying officials met with the Head of Department of Tourism and International Relations of the Government of Tenerife Ms. Delia Herrera Priano.

The conversation was focused on the need to involve in the Project businessmen of the two countries, who are interested in the development of engineering education and improving the training of engineers, as well as expansion of contacts between representatives of business and development of tourism. The parties agreed to prepare joint proposals for execution of Business and Educational Forum of the two countries during the celebration of the 260th anniversary of Agustin de Betancourt in Puerto de la Cruz.

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On February 1, 2016, Rector of the PSTU Alexander Y. Panychev and his entourage visited the University of La Laguna (Universidad de La Laguna – ULL) in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in Tenerife. The University, founded in 1701 (in its present form was formed in 1927), is the oldest higher education institution of the Canary Islands. It educates more students (about 22 thousand people) than any of the institutions of higher education in this region of Spain. In 2015, the University of La Laguna was included in the rating of top 500 universities in the world and is considered as the first Spanish university in the field of scientific cooperation with foreign countries.

The PSTU delegation was received by Rector of the University Professor Antonio Martinón Cejas. The ways of cooperation, plans for exchange of students and lecturers, program of joint activities to prepare for the celebration of the 260th anniversary of Agustin de Betancourt were discussed.

The PSTU Rector Alexander Y. Panychev presented to the library of the University of La Laguna a unique copy of an album of watercolors and drawings made by Agustin de Betancourt stored in the Scientific and Technical Library of the PSTU. Whereas, the Rector of the University of La Laguna Antonio Martinón Cejas handed for the PSTU Library the collection of books published in the University of La Laguna in 2015. Parties gratefully accepted the gifts.

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The delegation of the PSTU visited the private archive of Betancourt y Molina family in the city of Orotava in Tenerife. The archivist lawyer Juan Cullen Salazar, one of the descendants of Agustin de Betancourt, showed the unique collection, which first documents date back to the 15th century. The archive of Betancourt y Molina family and the PSTU have longstanding scientific relations. Scientists of the PSTU Professors V. Pavlov, A. Ledyaev, Associate Professor D. Nikolsky have visited the town of Orotava in previous years. They are familiar with archive materials and have used them in scientific publications. The archivist Mr. Juan Cullen Salazar has visited St. Petersburg and the PSTU, has worked in the Library of our University, collected and brought to Spain a lot of copies of archive documents concerning the Russian period of the life of Agustin de Betancourt.

Egor Komarov
(exclusively for the PSTU web-site,
photographs taken by author)