In April 2024, Samara University and the All-Russian Children’s Recreation, Education and Wellness Centre “Orlyonok” signed the cooperation agreement.

As part of this interaction, the University will share its academic and scientific experience with talented schoolchildren of the country, as well as provide resources for education of the young students. “Orlyonok”, for its part, will open access to its programs and capacities for children, creating the fruitful environment for their development.



“Cooperation with the largest All-Russian Children’s Centre is the opportunity to meet children who have already decided on their interests, and “highlight” those capacities and unique areas of training that are suitable for them. Samara University has strong scientific schools, many extracurricular activities, and Samara is a very beautiful city with developed infrastructure, excellent employment opportunities and the resort atmosphere. It is important for us to show this to children from other regions of Russia, who are looking for themselves in the sea of opportunities,” said Elena Kirpa, Head of the Department of Professional Guidance and Work with Talented Youth.

As part of the partnership events between “Orlyonok” and the University, Professor Olga Starinova, Head of the Department of Flight Dynamics and Control Systems, Head of the International Aerospace School of Samara University, gave lectures to the pupils of “Orlyonok”. On April 23–25, there were lectures and motivational meetings to be held in Tuapse, at the Children’s Innovation Centre for Aviation and Cosmonautics.

More than 100 pupils of specialized teams of young engineers and pilots attended the lecture dedicated to the results and prospects of outer space exploration by humanity. Participants in the meeting discussed the economy of the space sector, promising areas of commercial space and possible trajectories of development of Russian cosmonautics. The schoolchildren were also interested in the issues of admission to Samara University, Olga Starinova’s scientific activity and her motivation for studying technical sciences.

“I am glad that we can communicate with very experienced people. We take this knowledge and can share it with our friends. And since we do not have a subject of astronomy or cosmonautics, I really wanted to learn more and in detail about space exploration,” shared Ekaterina Kharitonova, a participant in the lecture, a schoolgirl from the Irkutsk Region, her impressions.

In the near future, it is planned to expand the areas of cooperation between “Orlyonok” and the University, namely, it is assumed:

• opening of the Rocket Engineering Laboratory with the additional educational program for 14 hours;
• conducting advanced training courses from Samara University to the Children’s Innovation Centre for Aviation and Cosmonautics on the theme of engineering education, career guidance;
• organizing and holding educational classes, master classes, workshops in Technical, Natural Science and Humanitarian areas;
• implementing projects and programs in Technical, Natural Science and Humanitarian areas, as well as many other formats of cooperation.

Joint research projects can help solve urgent problems in education and child development. Samara University’s teachers and students will be able to conduct scientific research based on the data and experience accumulated at “Orlyonok”.

“The main slogan of Samara University is “Outer Space for Life”. It is filled with many meanings, but the main thing that I would like to note is that outer space is open to everyone: for techies and humanities, for everyone who wants to develop and go beyond everyday knowledge. The University makes you fall in love with outer space: this is our educational mission. It is important that at such lectures and meetings we see the children’s response and interest, which will be picked up and transformed into professional development by specialists of our University,” concluded Olga Starinova.

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Since 2015, Samara University has been actively cooperating with many educational institutions and centres of additional education for schoolchildren in our country. Working with potential applicants in the largest children’s centres in Russia is an integral part of the University’s career guidance policy. In this context, the constant search for new opportunities for interacting and attracting new partners is of particular importance.