Establishment of the training center
Background
As the physical infrastructure and curricula of the Murmansk oblast educational institutions for refrigeration specialists were obsolete and did not conform to the status of the industry by 2020, a training center had to be established through the Project.
Component activities
The activities were financed by the Arctic Council Project Support Instrument and co-financed by a beneficiary.
The training center was established on the basis of the Murmansk State Technical University (MSTU), a federal state educational organization, in 2023 reformed into the Murmansk Arctic University.
This component of the Project provides:
- creating the physical infrastructure of the training center;
- supplying equipment, tools, and consumables necessary for the operation of the training center for one year;
- supplying teaching and learning aids, manuals, software, presentations;
- creating an eLearning website with 4 online courses;
- training (ensuring professional development) the instructors of the training center.
Outcomes of the Project
The establishment of the training center and the organization of its activities assumed work in the following areas:
- Formation of physical infrastructure (premises, training simulators, etc.) and training programs;
- Organization of events (training of industry specialists, holding of „Ozone Days“);
- Organization of interaction with representatives of the refrigeration industry and the fisheries complex;
- Dissemination of positive experience to the updated structure of the university (in 2023, MSTU merged with MAGU to form Murmansk Arctic University, MAU), to other regions of Russia and other countries.
1. The outcome of this task was the establishment of a Arctic Refrigeration Technology Training Center at MSTU. The grand opening of the center took place on September 27, 2022.
The equipment of the center includes unique training simulators that allow students to get acquainted with the principles of operation and automation of refrigeration units in practice, gain skills in identifying, restoring and regenerating refrigerants, troubleshooting refrigeration systems, welding and soldering the refrigerant circuit and checking it for strength and tightness, transferring the refrigeration unit to ozone-safe natural refrigerant R-290 (propane).
All stands send information about the performance of educational assignments to the computers of students and teachers.
The educational website https://mstu-ref.ru was developed „from scratch“ and granted to MSTU, allowing students to take online training courses:
- International and national legislation in the field of ozone layer protection;
- Environmentally safe removal of ODS and F-gases, their destruction or recovery and reuse;
- Use of natural refrigerants (carbon dioxide, ammonia, hydrocarbon refrigerants) in the fisheries industry of the Russian Federation;
- Safe use of natural refrigerants: ammonia, hydrocarbon refrigerants, carbon dioxide.
Additionally, MSTU has been provided with textbooks and presentations.
2. The organization of events and training of specialists of the refrigeration industry on the basis of MSTU and the established Arctic Training Center for Refrigeration Technologies were carried out within the framework of other components of the Project: «Public Awareness in the Murmansk oblast» and «Small grants programme. Training for service companies». However, the holding of such large-scale events and their coverage in the mass media made it possible to increase the status of the educational institution and, accordingly, to increase the environmental benefits of the training center.
3. As part of the implementation of this component, ICSTI organized regular meetings of MSTU representatives with service companies of the Murmansk oblast, manufacturers of refrigeration equipment, representatives of the fisheries industry.
Students and teachers regularly visit a fish cold storage, where the refrigeration system is based on eco-friendly carbon dioxide, as well as an ODS and F-gas recycling facility also established within the framework of the Project; meetings are organized with fisheries companies that develop joint training programs for specialists.
4. In November 2022, the training center was visited by the Governor of the Murmansk oblast, Andrey Chibis. During the meeting, it was noted that the main purpose of the center is to spread modern technologies that are safe for the ozone layer and the Earth’s climate.
By April 2023, 109 specialists have been trained at MSTU. The merger of MSTU with other regional university, MAGU, and the formation of Murmansk Arctic University (MAU) made it possible to train not only refrigeration specialists, but also environmentalists, power engineers and specialists of other related professions in the educational institution.
In 2023, the experience of establishment the Arctic Training Center for Refrigeration Technologies was used to create a laboratory of refrigeration and climate control systems in Turkmenistan, at the Yagshygeldi Kakayev International University of Oil and Gas.