"We keep going forward and looking forward". Interview with the rector of Penza State University.

 In his interview given to ‘Penza' TV and radio company Aleksandr Gulyakov, rector of Penza State University, the largest university of the Penza region, looked back on the year 2015 achievements and analyzed the most successful results.

One of the major indicators of the university success and status is the position in the national rating.  The rector noted “Rating result is undoubtedly something you may be proud of, but this is just one criteria of evaluating university activities. This is practical index showing various results of university work, for example,  graduate employment indicator. It was a welcome surprise for us to learn that our economics and IT specialists are in high demand at the national level.”

Penza State University holds leading position in the region in the number of students getting excellent marks and receiving extra study allowance from the university.  This is the objective index of the quality of teaching and studying.  “72% of our students receive monthly allowance and 20% receive extra, that means they have good and excellent marks for their exams. This, in turn, shows how hard they study”, said A. Gulyakov.

 Success of each university is largely dependant on the success of the enrolment campaign. The rector illustrated this with statistical data: if in 2014 the average entry level on the basis of school exam total amounted to 60 points, in 2015 it reached 63 points. “A lot of school leavers have good grades in mathematics, physics and chemistry. This means that young people are turning towards exact sciences,” noticed the rector. This increased interest toward engineering and technical sciences has been a growing trend in the last 2-3 years. Young people are striving to receive this education because they understand the current importance and opening prospects of these professions. And in our university this tendency is evident,” remarked the rector.

The rector pointed out that the successful results of the academic year are evaluated using such parameters as good graduation exam marks, employability and enrolment. Penza State University also proved its prestige by the 39th  position among 800 university of Russia in the ranking of applicants academic results. The university has also managed to gain popularity among prospective students of the Penza region and the neighbouring regions as well. In 2015 there were 350 applicants from outside the Penza region coming to study at Penza State University.