TPU to hold its first tower engineering championship bringing together over 1,800 freshmen

On September 10, Tomsk Polytechnic University will hold its first popular tower construction championship, the Engineering Cup named after Nikolay Nikitin, a prominent TPU alumnus and renowned designer of the Ostankino Tower. The championship will take place at the Polytechnic Stadium. It will bring together 260 teams of more than 1,800 freshmen from all engineering schools of TPU. They will be given two hours to erect towers and complete a crash test. Fans and the audience will enjoy a show program featuring a cover band concert at the stadium.

“TPU freshmen are talented and highly motivated for studies and new experiences. We aim to make them feel from their very first days what it means to be an engineer in a vibrant and unusual way. That is why, for the first time, we came up with the idea to mark the beginning of their studies with a popular engineering contest, where freshmen would get to know each other and vent their creativity. And there was no doubt that the Cup would be named in honor of TPU alumnus Nikolay Nikitin. 

In our country, perhaps, there is no person who is not familiar with his projects, such as the Moscow State University building on the Vorobyovy Gory, the Motherland Calls Monument in Volgograd and the Ostankino Tower in Moscow. Nikitin once said: “Nothing but the unprecedented is worthy of embodiment”. This phrase captures the essence of engineers and their work. To change the world, you should learn to be audacious enough to do things, make mistakes, and invent. This is what the university is for,” says Leonid Sukhikh, Acting Rector of TPU.

Freshmen will be preparing for the Engineering Cup during the first academic week. Every day, professors and supervisors will give classes in TRIZ, approaches to engineering problem solving, and team building.

On Tuesday, September 10, the Championship day will begin with a parade of students and faculty of the TPU engineering and research schools. The route will extend from the entrance to the Polytechnic Stadium to the main stage.

Next, the teams will proceed to erecting towers. The competition will be held in three stages. In the first qualifying stage, teams of seven students will have to build a tower out of 240 wooden skewers and modelling clay. This is an environmentally friendly material with properties similar to real building materials. They will be given one hour to complete the task. An expert jury of professors from the university's engineering schools will assess the structures' height and stability. The towers matching these criteria will make it to the semi-finals.

In the next stage, students will compete in a 30-meter speed race carrying their towers. The teams that show best race time and structure stability in the contest will qualify for the finals. In the final stage of the competition, the towers will be ranked by height, creativity and construction quality. The expert jury will consist of representatives of TPU's partner companies and student activists. The experts will select the winners and runners-up in special nominations. They will be awarded 20 extra points to their academic ratings in the Introduction to Project Design in the current academic year, as well as the opportunity to be sponsored by Tomsk Polytechnic University for participating in national and international scientific and educational events over the next three years.

The winning team will be awarded the Challenge Cup of the Championship.

The Polytechnic Stadium will also offer interactive platforms, where presentations of student associations and entertaining challenges for students will take place.

The event will be rounded off with a cover band performance.

Reference

In 2024, the number of students from 57 regions of Russia enrolled in TPU's bachelor's, specialist's and master's programs is 3,429. This year, the TPU footprint has expanded to 17 new regions, including the Donetsk People's Republic, the Republics of Adygea and Dagestan, the Penza, Kirov, Kurgan, Astrakhan, Arkhangelsk, Kostroma, Lipetsk, Novgorod Regions, and others.

In 2024, the total number of applications submitted has considerably increased by more than 2,000 applications. A total of 7,212 applicants submitted documents for admission to TPU.

This year, the top engineering programs by number of applications are software engineering (9.6 applicants per slot), computer science and engineering (7.8 applicants per slot), IT systems and technology (7.6 applicants per slot), applied mathematics and computer science (5 applicants per slot), and petroleum engineering (4.9 applicants per slot).