Rector, professor, Dr.Hab. V.I. Mikhalev
Siberian State University of Physical Culture and Sport, Omsk

Keywords: institution of higher education, history, progress, research, sport, anniversary.

Siberian State University of Physical Culture and Sport, founded in 1950, became the first specialized institution of higher education in Siberia. During its more than fifty year long history, he has worked its way from Institute of Physical Culture to a modern, fastest growing university. At present, the university is one of the leading centers of education and research in the field of physical culture and sport in Russia, CIS and foreign countries. Fulfilling its primary mission of personnel training, a lot of research is being done in the university, along with research follow-up of the leading athletes of the Russian Federation, conditions being created for elite athlete training. Moreover, it is a center of training and skills development. The material base of the university is being constantly updated and includes 6 educational buildings, 86 classrooms and a sufficient number of sports facilities with modern equipment and inventory.

The organization and content of the educational process in the university is currently focused on the implementation of the targets of the action plan to improve the efficiency of the university for the period of 2013-2018 (the "road map") and on the implementation of the state task set by the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. As one of the biggest educational centers of the Siberian region, Siberian State University of Physical Culture and Sport has 30 basic professional educational programs at all levels of higher education. Bachelors, masters and highly skilled scientific and teaching personnel in the sphere of physical culture, sport, tourism and youth policy are being trained in the university. Mid-level professionals have been trained in the College of Physical Education of the university since 2010.

Since 2013, the program, integrated with the system of training on the basis of leading organizations of Omsk in the sphere of physical culture and sports, has been implemented in the university together with the Department of Youth Policy, Physical Culture and Sport of the Omsk Administration (the Department Director - M.S. Rasin).

The students acquire practical professional skills with the help of university teachers and leading trainers in the area.

Over the past 5 years, in order to meet the needs of the region in the specialists in physical culture and sport, 592 bachelors of physical education, 230 masters, 983 specialists in physical culture and sport, 208 specialists in adaptive physical education and 157 specialists in recreation and sports tourism have been trained in the university.

The long-term educational process of the university includes master training programs in 4 areas and more than 20 profiles, implemented under the guidance of the professors who have developed their own scientific schools and who have applied the results of their researches to the practice of physical culture and sport. There is a steady increase in the number of students of the masters course: from 109 people in 2012 to 212 in 2014, which demonstrates the interest of the bachelors in improving their level of education and in the formation of their trajectory of professional growth.

Independent external evaluation of the level of educational achievements of students is carried out via long-term cooperation with the Scientific and Research Institute of the Education Quality Monitoring. The Federal Internet Exam: Competency Approach and Traditional Approach has been applied in the university since 2005 for training students for accreditation procedures and for the purposes of current monitoring and interim assessment of the level of students' knowledge.

A modern specialist should continually expand and update his professional knowledge for successful work in the sphere of physical culture and sport. This is the purpose of the university's Faculty of Additional Professional Education. Its activities are focused on the implementation of skill improvement and retraining programs.

The number of students of these courses is rising every year. 3461 students have been trained on the Faculty of Additional Professional Education over the last 5 years (from 593 students in 2009 to 1008 in 2014).

The Hockey Trainer Higher School represents another area of ​​additional professional education in Siberian State University of Physical Culture and Sport. The number of students there also increases every year (from 13 in 2009 to 28 in 2014). The School involves experts from leading universities and hockey clubs of Russia and such "hockey" countries as Sweden, Finland etc.

Since recent time the cooperation with CIS and foreign countries has been actively developing: the university helped 190 citizens of Kazakhstan to improve their skills; students from Scotland, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, England, Hungary and Wales (UK) attended a seminar on weight-lifting. In addition, there are individual internships for Slovenian and US students.

Scientific staff of the university is divided among the departments and the Research Institute for Work in Extreme Conditions. Scientific reserve is being trained via postgraduate and doctoral training. With the assistance of the Council of Young Scientists and Student Scientific Society promising young scientists are selected and their further scientific work is promoted in the university. The logical conclusion of a scientific research is the defence of a master's or doctor’s thesis at the dissertation council of the university.

The scholar schools of the university are being also developed as a result of constantly updated material and scientific base and related comprehensive target programs such as the "Molodoy ucheny SibGUFK" (Young Scientist of Siberian State University of Physical Culture and Sport) and the "Nauchny`e kadry vysshey kvalifikatcii SibGUFK" (Highly Qualified Scientific Personnel of Siberian State University of Physical Culture and Sport). There are 20 scholar schools in the university, the most productive of which are the working groups under the guidance of the following leading scientists: Professors L.G. Kharitonova, I.T. Lysakovskiy, I.Yu. Gorskaya, G.D. Babushkin, V.N. Smolentseva, J.V. Koryagina, A.I. Kravchuk, V.P. Shul'pina, A.N. Nalobina; Associate Professors: N.P. Filatova, G.P. Pshenichnikova, S.K. Poddubny. Main researches are associated with the problems of increasing the efficiency of training process and health-improving mass physical culture.

Up to two dozen of theoretical and practical conferences are held in the university every year. The most popular Russian theoretical and practical conferences in the scientific community are as follows: "Problemy sovershenstvovaniya fizicheskoy kul`tury, sporta i olimpizma"(The Problems of Improving Physical Culture, Sport and Olympism), "Problemy razvitiya fizicheskoy kul`tury` i sporta v novom  tysyacheletii" (Problems of Development of Physical Culture and Sport in the New Millennium), "Sovremennaiya sistema sportivnoy podgotovki v biatlone" (Modern System of Biathlete’s Training), "Puti optimizatsii samostoyatel’noy raboty studentov v usloviyakh modernizatsii professional’nogo obrazovaniya" (Ways of Optimization of Independent Work of Students in Modernization of Professional Education), "Voprosy funktsional’noi podgotovki v sporte vysshikh dostizheniy" (Functional Training Issues in Elite Sports Sphere).  And there is also a regional scientific conference "Olimpiyskaiya sessiya studentov i molodykh uchenykh Sibiri"( Olympic Session of Students and Young Scientists of Siberia).

The scientists of the university carry out the theoretical and methodological support of the national biathlon team, the youth and junior national teams. They were involved in the scientific support of the national badminton team of Russia. The experts of the departments are involved in the scientific support of elite athletes of the Siberian Federal District in swimming, Greco-Roman wrestling, boxing, athletics, skiing, volleyball, skating and basketball. Representatives of the Research Institute for Work in Extreme Conditions provide theoretica and medical support of the team of the Omsk hockey club "Avangard".

In collaboration with Ural State University of Physical Culture and Sport the university began to publish the "Nauchno-sportivny vestnik Urala i Sibiri"(Science and Sports Bulletin of the Urals and Siberia) in 2013.

The citation index of scientific works of university employees increased. In terms of RSCI our university is on the third position after Kuban State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism and Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health.

The athletic prowess of Siberian State University of Physical Culture and Sport has been proven by several generations of athletes who won the medals at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships and World University Games and who have contributed to the strengthening of the Russia's status of a sports power. Note the brightest victories and achievements of recent years.

The Olympic debut of student of the Faculty of Extramural and Distance Education Alexander Bessmertnykh resulted in a medal: he became a silver medalist in the 4x10 km relay ski race at the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.

A team of volunteers, who were managing different tasks during the Games in Sochi and made a contribution to the overall victory and successful performance of Russian athletes, included about 100 students, teachers and staff of Siberian State University of Physical Culture and Sport.

The successful performance of students at the World University Games became the subject of special pride of the university. In Kazan, Nikita Konovalov won the 4x100 m combined relay (swimming) at the XXVII World Summer Universiade. In Trentino, masters course student Oksana Usatova won gold medals in individual sprint (skiing) and in mass start at the distance of 15 km. Members of the national hockey team, Alexander Ugol’nikov and Vasiliy Mordvinov, became bronze medalists.

The performance of the university team at the III All-Russia Summer Universiade of 2012 was also successful: the third place in the team competition - the result of a great work of athletes, trainers and the entire team.

From the recent victories at the world kettlebell lifting championships and competitions, note the gold medals of students of masters course Eduard Openlender (long cycle, weight category up to 91 kg) and Violetta Deyanova (weight category up to 58 kg) (Hamburg, November 2014).

Students Igor Trushkov and Danil Chayun won the 1^st place in the category "Aerodance" at the World Championships in sports aerobics (Mexico, June 2014). This victory was preceded by their good performance at the World Games of 2013 in Colombia, where Igor Trushkov, Oksana Trukhacheva and Danil Chayun were second in the category "Aerodance".

Student Julia Eydenzon performed well too: at the European Championships of 2013 she won a bronze medal in pneumatic gun shooting, and at the World Championships of 2012- two silver medals in the team competition.

The list of recent victories at the world championships was supplemented with the performances of students Yuri Gimgin, who won the powerlifting competition in the weight category up to 74 kg (USA, 2013), and Dmitry Kuzmenko, who took the 2^nd place in the kickboxing competition in the weight category up to 75 kg (Italy, 2014).

In 2013, the students of the university from the team "Omskie yastreby" won the Hockey World Cup among youth teams. A year earlier, student Alexander Svitov and graduates Alexander Perezhogin and Alexander Popov became hockey world champions as members of the national team (Finland, Sweden, 2012). In the same year, student Evgeny Mozer in the national team won bronze at the World Hockey Championship among youth teams.

In 2010-2014 over 130 students of the university were involved in the Russia's teams in 40 sports, of whom more than 80 were in the main lineup. More than 80 university students in the last five years became the winners of Russia's championships in 25 sports and won more than 120 gold, 50 silver and 60 bronze medals.

Traditionally, the university’s team takes an active part in the festivals of students, professors and leading scientists from the universities of physical culture of the Russian Federation and wins in various categories. In 2014, the university took the 3^rd place in the team competition at the recent St. Petersburg XVII Festival.

 One of the latest achievements of the university was the victory in the open public Russian show-competition for educational institutions of secondary and higher education for the best organization of physical culture and sports activities among students in the 2012/2013 academic year in the category "Best Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education of Russia, providing training in the field of physical culture and sport". The result of a great work, this was the second victory: in the 2010/2011 academic year the university won the competition as well.

A chronicle of sports victories and achievements of the university includes more than 60 years. And a relay of generations continues. The current generation of athletes carries the banner of the university with dignity.

On 27 November 2014, in Krasnoyarsk, the Coordinating Council for Physical Culture and Sport of the interregional organization "Sibirskoe soglashenie" noted great value of the university activities for training and professional development of specialists in the region, the implementation of researches on development of physical education, healthy lifestyle promotion and improvement of the efficiency of mass sports and theoretical and methodological support of training of highly skilled athletes.

On its 65th anniversary, our university keeps strengthening its position in all areas of its work. The university is proud to represent higher physical education, sport and science in the field.

 In advance of the anniversary, I would like to congratulate all our graduates and wish them prosperity, happiness, health and success in their noble pursuit - development of physical culture and sport in Russia.

References                                          

1. Kolmagorova, N.V. Problemnye situatsii kak sredstvo formirovaniya pedagogicheskikh umeniy studentov fizkul'turnogo vuza (Problem situations as means of formation of teaching skills of sports university students) // Fizkul'turnoe obrazovanie Sibiri / N.V. Kolmagorova, A.G. Zommer. – 2013. – № 1(30). – P. 10– 13.
2. Mikhalev V.I. Ob itogakh vystupleniya sportsmenov Sibirskogo okruga na 27 Vsemirnoy letney universiade v Kazani (On the results of the performance of Siberian athletes at the 27th International Summer Universiade in Kazan) // Fizkul'turnoe obrazovanie Sibiri / V.I. Mikhalev, V.A. Aikin, T.E. Elisova. – 2013. – № 1(30). – P. 92–98.

Corresponding author: aikin-va@yandex.ru