FEFU Holds International Ice School

Fifty-four students from across the world took part in a short winter programme.

Far Eastern Federal University Ice School, held for the fourth year running, is focused on ice properties and impact on marine facilities. Ice School 2018 gathered participants from China, Korea, Japan, Canada and Russia. In the first three days, students attended lectures in English on types of ice and its effect on oil platforms, pipelines and vessels, safe design in Arctic conditions and oil/gas field development in northern seas. The lecturers were FEFU teachers, guest speakers from foreign universities and Russian oil company Rosneft. After a theoretical course, students began practice in Novik Bay near the university campus. They collected more than 800 ice samples massing a total of 50 tons and carried out numerous experiments to analyse ice structure, strength and other properties. At the end of training, students presented the results of their research and got certificates of course completion.

Ice School students’ research has practical application. FEFU scientists rely on students’ findings to develop a universal model for ice impact on Arctic structures to help engineers design durable and safe ice breakers and oil platforms.

Far Eastern Federal University is located on the shore of the Sea of Japan in Vladivostok. It is a modern Russian university and a well-known education and research centre. Students are offered a variety of programmes to choose from. The most popular majors are oil/gasfield development, civil engineering, economics and Russian as a Foreign Language. FEFU currently has more than 3,000 students from 67 countries.