On November 13, 2018, the Vth International Conference of the Universities of Russia and France took place at the Emperor Alexander I St. Petersburg State Transport University. Representatives of polytechnic and transport universities of Russia and France took part at the conference.

The conference is held within a framework of the Betancourt International Engineering Forum.

The conference was opened by the Rector of PGUPS A.Yu. Panychev. In the welcome speech, he noted that the event was held in the first transport university of Russia in a significant year — the year of the 260th anniversary of the birth of the founder of the university and the first rector, an outstanding mechanical engineer, constructor and teacher Agustín de Betancourt. His name connects universities in Russia and France, because he interned and worked at the Paris National School of Bridges and Roads. In Russia he laid the foundations of transport education. It is symbolic that the first twenty years of teaching in our university was conducted in French.

The rector wished the participants of the conference successful and fruitful work.

The participants were addressed by Sebastian Leonel, Director of the European and International Development Department of the National Polytechnic University (Paris), B.A. Levin, Rector of the Russian University of Transport (RUT — MIIT) and President of the Association of Higher Educational Institutions of Transport, S.O. Baryshnikov, Rector of the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping., The Vice-Rector of the RUT (MIIT) V.N. Glazkov read out a greeting from the Russian-French Council on Economic, Financial, Industrial and Trade Issues.

The main topics selected for a discussion at the fifth anniversary conference were transport education in Russia and France in the context of international education, as well as academic mobility and network (joint) educational programs.

The conference was attended by a large group of Russian students, for whom the issues discussed attracted great interest.

On November 14, participants of the conference «Modern Trends in Transport Education in Russia and France in the Context of the Internationalization of Education» are expected to take a technical excursion to Kronstadt to the places where the Betancourt steam dredger and flood protection facilities were functioning.

On November 15, representatives of Russian and French universities will take part in the plenary session of the St. Petersburg Congress «Professional Education, Science and Innovations in the XXI Century», where they will exchange views and take part in a panel discussion.