NUST MISIS Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Andrey Voronin and Gao Xiukun, Director of Secondary School No. 1 of the Ordos Urban District (PRC), have signed an agreement to establish a preparatory center in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The event marks a new chapter in training highly qualified professionals for one of China’s key industrial regions and strengthens academic cooperation between the two countries.
“NUST MISIS educates students from 85 countries around the world, including the People’s Republic of China. We train engineers and researchers who make a significant contribution to the national economy. To attract talented and highly motivated young people, we are opening a preparatory center in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which is the largest region in China for coal mining, rare earth metals, and natural uranium. The establishment of the center is one of the key projects of the Cross Years of Education, announced at the initiative of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and President of China Xi Jinping, which were launched at our university,” said NUST MISIS Rector Alevtina Chernikova.
The growing demand for specialists with a world-class engineering education makes cooperation with NUST MISIS, a leading research and education center in these fields, strategically important for the region. The new preparatory center will train Chinese school students for admission to the university’s degree programs, forming a continuous and effective educational pathway.
Gao Xiukun, Director of the School, commented: “This agreement is a strategic step for our industrial region. We are creating a system of targeted training for future engineers for the mining and metallurgical industry. Our students will gain a unique opportunity to prepare for admission to one of the world’s leading technological universities while still at school, saving time and receiving a high-quality education. This fully reflects the spirit of progress and innovation that defines modern China. Graduates will become a bridge between the industrial potential of Inner Mongolia and Russia’s advanced technologies.”
The uniqueness of the model proposed by NUST MISIS lies in the integration of advanced language and subject-specific training into the final year of study at a Chinese school. Students who are already studying Russian will be taught in a blended format with the participation of university faculty members. This approach will allow them to save up to one year typically required for language preparation after arriving in Russia and to enroll at the university with an optimal level of readiness.
Up to 50 school students will be able to study at the preparatory center each year. The official opening of the center is scheduled for early 2026. Students will be offered a rich academic and cultural program, including participation in NUST MISIS summer and winter schools.
The project is part of the university’s internationalization strategy. It aims to expand MISIS’s international presence and attract talented international applicants. In the future, cooperation with the Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology is planned, including joint educational initiatives, research projects, and professional development programs for specialists from the region’s industrial enterprises.
The project has been implemented with the support of the Priority 2030 program and is aligned with the Concept of the Russian Federation’s Humanitarian Policy Abroad, which предусматривает expanding the network of preparatory departments at Russian universities. The initiative also reflects the objectives of the national education project aimed at attracting talented international students to Russia.
