Our people abroad: MAI-SJTU graduates speaking on the benefits of intercultural communication

Experts with Russian technical education have always been in high demand at both Russian and international enterprises. The graduates told us how to facilitate intercultural communication and what the students should pay attention to during their studies in order to cooperate with foreign corporations successfully.

MAI has been cooperating with foreign universities for a long time running double degree programs: in 2017, the targeted corporate master's program with Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) was launched, which has no analogues in Russia.

Alexander Khvan, MAI graduate, organizes the work of MAI-SJTU. He also works on summer student practice programs at the Aviation Plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur named after Y.Gagarin and develops projects for MAI summer and winter aerospace schools for foreign students.

“More than 300 people were enrolled to MAI-SJTU, about 600 people studied at the winter and summer aerospace school programs,” recalls Alexander Khvan, the supervisor of the joint institute.

The main goal of the program is the bilateral development of intercultural communication between Russia and China.

Alexander Khvan

“Since the labor market is experiencing shortage of highly qualified engineering personnel with a good command of technical English and the understanding of the cultural peculiarities of the representatives of the partner country, the joint institute becomes especially one of the most relevant ways to educate those. MAI-SJTU is a point of growth for young professionals. And, due to the sponsorship of Russian state corporations, perhaps, it provides the most affordable program to study abroad. The project allows students to gain versatile knowledge and build a successful career in the aerospace industry,” explains the curator of the institute.

The educational program is exclusive and it is developed with the participation of the PJSC "UAC" and JSC "UEC" corporations, and the Chinese aircraft manufacturing corporation COMAC. It is aimed at forming personnel reserve for the creation of the Russian-Chinese wide-body long-range aircraft CR929, on which students begin to work from the first day of their studies. This project is the most high-tech in the portfolio of common joint projects of the two states. It is believed that the new aircraft is to compete with two giants – Airbus and Boeing – in the market of China and the Asia-Pacific region.

“I am a flight dynamics engineer at Guangdong Huitian Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd in China and I am specialized in the product lifecycle management,” says Jun Zhang, the graduate of the 2020 magister course. — I am researching the flight control strategy of a single-seat flying car concept. The knowledge gained at the joint MAI-SJTU institute helps me in my work on my projects, and disciplines such as aviation systems design, configuration management and airworthiness certification have become the basis of my professional activity. At MAI-SJTU we were not only given the theory, but also gained interest in learning new things. We united the efforts of China and Russia, shared experience with each other, and were able to improve our competitiveness via cooperation.”

The course lasts 2.5 years: the first year and the last six months the study takes place in Shanghai, the second year – at Moscow Aviation Institute. Upon completion, students receive two diplomas: SJTU and MAI. Additionally, in 2019 MAI and SJTU launched three undergraduate programs: Aircraft Engineering, Engine Engineering and Rocket Engineering. The agreement was also signed on the opening of an additional international corporate master's program for Aircraft Equipment.

“During my master's degree course, I did an internship in China and learned the basics of work in the industry. Full immersion in the work on the project of the perspective joint Russian-Chinese wide-body long-range aircraft for 250-300 passengers (CR929) from the very first days of training is the huge advantage of our joint master’s program” – says Eugene Guryev, who gained his master’s degree in 2019.

He believes that the knowledge gained helps him build fruitful communications with his Chinese colleagues.

“During the course and interaction, I managed to achieve the understanding of the behavioral patterns and peculiarities of thinking of the Chinese people. This helps a lot during negotiations and speeds up the process of agreement and decision making. Also, the course was in English and the English-speaking environment of the campus led to overcoming language barriers and gaining the skill to search for the necessary information in English. Lectures from leading companies such as HoneyWell, Hewlett-Packard, knowledge in product and project management, international standards and best practices from around the world are excellent base for further self-realization as a high-class expert,” admits the graduate.

CR929 project negotiation area at COMAC, Shanghai

Now he works in PJSC “Irkut” Corporation Regional Aircraft branch in the Design Management Research and Development Association, in System Engineering, building business processes, managing requirements and other integration processes and writing regulatory documentation.

“Among the tasks that we are now facing with my colleagues, there is the task of digital transformation of the corporation and, of course, building and linking all life cycle processes, data management, creating the unified information environment, switching to Data Driver Decision Making, which will lead to the reduction of the number of changes and transaction costs, resource management and quality of product development improvement”, says Eugene Guryev.