SAS Summer School

The School of Advanced Studies (SAS) held its annual The Endless Futures and Human Limitations Summer School for 9th and 10th-grade students.

For future prospective students, this was an opportunity to get acquainted with a modern university, experience the role of an english-speaking student, and meet professors and researchers from different countries.

To become participants, they had to go through two-step application: submit a 90-secs video in English and face-to-face (2-minute interview), and to demonstrate their good command in English, creative approach to video submissions, and communication skills. As a result, 70 people from 12 regions of the country were invited to the SAS Summer School.

This year, the programm was dedicated to experiments. Participants identified patterns in their behavior, explored ways to challenge their habits, and delved into the unknown. All of this was conducted in English, enabling the students to communicate not only with the professors and moderators but also with other participants, thereby enhancing their language competence.

From the very first day, students immersed themselves in an intensive educational environment where they practically experienced all the advantages of modern university education:

• The first component was educational. SAS professors shared their knowledge and expertise through panel discussions and seminars, covering topics ranging from victimization prevention and philosophy to experimental cinema and machine learning.
• The second was research-oriented. Participants applied the acquired knowledge in practice, working on challenging yet fascinating assignments and experiments both in groups and individually. They were assisted by SAS students as group moderators. 

This year, both the organizers and the participants experimented. Firstly, an unusual element of the program was the meeting of the Parent Faculty, a project organized by the School of Education, UTMN, the Heritage International School, and SAS. Summer School participants reflected on their educational experiences, shared the difficulties they encounter in the learning process at school with the “adults”, and offered their ideas for solutions, while parents asked clarifying questions. For example, one team recommended abolishing the grading system, considering it a source of stress and a hindrance to creative thinking. Another interesting idea was to help students overcome the fear of change and making mistakes. Drawing on their own experiences, the school students emphasized the importance of support and understanding from parents and educators. The Parent Faculty meetings aim to foster a trusting dialogue with children to understand what is happening in modern education, how students perceive it, and how their educational experience can be improved.

Secondly, this time SAS partnered with the Kontora Parohodstva multi-center, which is not just an events venue on the embankment of Tyumen but an experimental space and a point of attraction for creators. The "Kontora Parohodstva" supports contemporary art, fosters creative industries, advocates for the uniqueness of urban environments, and hosts the Street Morphology public art festival. The multi-center's team introduced Summer School participants to public art, discussing tools for studying and interacting with the city through its visual components, sounds, and maps. They also assigned a final task: to create a unified image of Tyumen and design a public art that reflects this image. The participants worked on it for four days and presented the results at the final plenary session.

Several projects were related to music. Teams proposed two musical guides to Tyumen. The first one featured songs characterizing spaces, buildings, and monuments. For example, the Central Square was associated with folk songs, while SAS was associated with electronic music.

The second guide focused on capturing the sounds of different parts of the city. For instance, the Alexandrovsky Garden left a beautiful impression on the participants with its bird songs. Other teams suggested creating various sculptures dedicated to oil, burned trees, and combining different architectural styles of the city at one building.

We believe that the Summer School turned out to be exactly what we intended it to be—an experimental program that expanded the boundaries of creative thinking. Each year, it embodies the idea of education that goes beyond the standard school curriculum, fostering independent, critical, and creative thinking among participants. It encourages them to seek new approaches to problem-solving and prepares them for the challenges of the modern world. The remote acquaintance with the academic environment also helps students overcome doubts and fears, better preparing them for their university future. The School of Advanced Studies (SAS) is pleased to initiate this transformation.

All photos and videos from the event can be found on our Telegram channel and VK group, including the stories of the SAS Summer School.

If you would like to be among the first to receive key information about the SAS Summer School in 2024, please write to us at sas-summerschool@utmn.ru.