Center of Russian plain is one of the most dynamically developing regions of Russia. Nature showered it with gifts. The most valuable of them are black earth, ferrous and copper-nickel deposits. The biggest academic higher education institution in a region is Voronezh State University (VSU). For the last 20 years on the basis of VSU has been implementing forms of ecological education and promotion of ecological awareness. Besides ecological disciplins of curriculum, yearly conduct academic competitions, courses of supplementary vocational education, inclouding summer schools. Our university one of the first assessed advantages of Bologna process and started it implementation. Solid experience of ecological education on the one hand and riches of natural resources on the other determine actual continuity of realization of an integrated ecological summer school «Natural resources of Russian pain and their conservation».
Successful execution of the summer school will work towards closer cooperation between VSU, DAAD and German higher education institutions. We believe that further important steps of cooperation should be development of bilateral education programs.
Goal of the summer school: to initiate students into knowlage of regional natural resourses, specific of their conservation and historic cultural heritage.
1) to present land resources and soil cover, climate and ist potential, water resources, bioresources and biological diversity, nature reserves of central part of Russian plain;
2) to present laboratory and practical methodes of environmental researches;
3) to present historic cultural heritage and initiate into basic principles of national language.
Participants of the summer school will gain knowledge about:
- natural-resources potential of Russian plain;
- modern methods of nature conservation and efficient use of natural resources which are used in our region;
Participants of the summer school will gain skills:
- Put learning into practice in the wild within natural reserves.
- Characterize main components of regional environment (vegetation, wildlife, soils, specific of hydrographic network etc);
Participants of the summer school gain experience:
- identification of main parameters and components of environment;
- application of state-of-the-environment assessment methods.
Professorsand teachers of the Medicine and Biology Faculty and the Faculty of Geography, Geo-Ecology and Tourismknown in the field of ecology, environmental protection and nature management will participate in the Summer School. The program of the Summer School includes lectures and laboratory classes covering the following blocks: "Ecological condition of the chernozems of Russian Plain", "Natural conditions of the Central Black Soil Region", "Bioresources, Biodiversity, and Methods of Biodiversity Conservation", "Special Protected Natural Areas and Ecotourism", " Anthropogenic environmental impacts assessment ", "Methods of molecular biology and genetics in environmental monitoring", "General terminology and concepts of ecology in Russian and English” The working languages of the School are English and German. Lectures and laboratory classes presuppose interactive training with modern electronic educational technologies. In the course of laboratory sessions, the participants of the summer school will have an opportunity to learn and apply methods of studying the current state of soils, ecological and hydrochemical properties of water, methods of bio-diagnostics of plants and animals of Russian Plain. The obtained theoretical knowledge will be supplemented by fieldwork and visiting the most significant protected areas and natural objects. The participants will have an opportunity to study both natural and natural-anthropogenic landscapes, characteristic of the Plain of Russia as a whole, and their individual components in the natural state at the territory of Voronezh Nature Reserve n.a. V.M. Peskov, Galichya Gora Reserve, Khopersky Reserve, Nature Preserve Kamennaya Steppe, Divnogorye Nature Reserve archeological reserve, Kostenki Arc