Educating over 20,000 students annually, Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) in Tomsk, Russia is the first and largest university in Siberia. Now, taking its investment in training Russia’s future technology and business leaders to an even higher level, TPU has opened the first Satellite Technology Education Center in Russia in collaboration with the Scientific Industrial Center (STRELA) and Hughes.

“Establishing this Satellite Technology Education Center is an important strategic step for the university, and the beginning of a long-term collaboration with Hughes and STRELA which I’m confident will significantly enhance access of students and postgraduate students to the most cutting edge technologies,” said Professor Michael Sonkin, vice rector and director, Cybernetic Institute, Tomsk Polytechnic University. “In addition, using advanced Hughes satellite networking technology will enable us to reach the broader community with distance learning and offer a wider range of services to regional and federal organizations and agencies, such as forest fire monitoring across Siberia.”

Arunas Slekys, vice president and general manager, Russia & CIS at Hughes, commented, “Hughes is proud to be a sponsor of this very worthwhile initiative and to collaborate with TPU and STRELA in helping to expand the know-how and capabilities of satellite broadband technologies and services in Siberia. Investing in training future technology and business leaders underscores our commitment and leadership in Russia, where to date we’ve shipped over 45,000 broadband satellite terminals, representing more than 50 percent market share, and now also count TPU as a valued service provider customer.”