First Enrollment at HSE Faculty of Physics
This year the first enrollment was held at HSE Faculty of Physics: since September 26 bachelor’s and 14 master’s students will start their studies at the faculty. They received student ID cards as well as promises to study in creative atmosphere with assistance.
The faculty is based on the system developed by Lev Landau and Pyotr Kapitsam who stated that future scholars need to do experiments themselves to see the way the laws of physics were created and to understand the process of law discovering. Alexander Kuntsevich, Senior Research Fellow at the Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, spoke about the importance of experimental research to future students:
‘Laboratory workshops in first institutes of physics and technology were different, previously students not only participated in an experiment, but they also assembled devices, it was really interesting. And now we are actually back to basics. That’s how we should teach the students. We believe that physicists are unique, and teaching methods should not be widespread’.
Mikhail Trunin, Dean of the Faculty, confirmed this notion: the ability to not only calculate, but also competently carry out experiments is important for understanding any field of physics. That’s the only way a student can become a true researcher who is able to think on his/her own and make decisions.
Students won’t need to assemble devices, but they will be able to upgrade the available equipment at their discretion. Laboratory workshops will give students an opportunity to choose the direction of the experiment. The lecture programme will be up-to-date, reflecting recent trends in physics, showing that it’s a dynamic and rapidly developing science. The teachers expect that this approach with a small number of people will help to educate students interested in continuing their studies. Moreover, the lecturers will pay special attention to the first enrollment at the faculty.
Six joint departments with academic institutions will work at the faculty: the Russian Space Research Institute, Kapitza Insitute for Physical Problems, Institute for Spectroscopy RAS, Institute of Solid State Physics, Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, and Prokhorov General Physics Institute. After a course of general physics bachelors will choose the track they wish to specialize in. Master’s students will be engaged in research led by the scholars from September 1.
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