About one faculty of physics

The second semester is coming to an end, and it means that it is already possible to draw some objective conclusions about studying at the physics department of HSE. In this article I would like to talk about my faculty, in particular, about laboratory work.

An approach

It seems to me that the "bad" students are a minority. Many teachers who do not know how to interest students in their subject. Many universities have failed to find the right approach to the learning process. I was lucky to get to the faculty, where there are great teachers who are active scientists. They can immerse the audience in the atmosphere of the area of ​​their work, and it is very exciting. In addition to teachers, I really like the system of education at the faculty. More precisely, it suits me. There are many debates about the effectiveness of the Bologna education system and four sessions per year, I believe that here it is necessary to determine what suits you specifically. I want to talk about one big (for me) advantage of my particular faculty. This is a laboratory.

First, a whole school day was allocated for the workshop. From 10.30 to 16.30. Although the majority of students stay up to 6-7 in the evening, and someone, on the contrary, may leave early. In this regard, there is no strictness, it is more convenient for someone to perform the entire practical part, and to engage in analysis at home, someone wants to finish work as soon as possible. The teacher is tolerant to any student decision.
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Secondly, a report is produced for each laboratory work. In the first module (module == semester at school) students are taught to draw up research papers. We were shown how to work with LibreOffice, with LaTeX, with GNUPlot and with Labview. They also told about the requirements for the design of the article. The choice of what to use is behind the student, no one will scold even Word with Excel. Personally, I prefer to process data in Python (sometimes I sin on Origin, if there is not enough time) and tech. The report can be submitted in paper form, can be sent in PDF format to the mail of the teacher.

Thirdly, in addition to reports, each student is required to report once per semester. The report provides for oral protection of work with the presentation. Here, in fact, you can be creative. You can tell a little more about the theory and application of some equipment, you can go into the details of the workshop. The teacher and listening students ask questions. It turns out a mini-conference.

Equipment

You can find all sorts of fasteners, threads, microcontrollers and sensors (for those who want to work with LabView), measuring instruments in laboratory cabinets. There is allowed a full flight of fancy. Personally, I really like this atmosphere, I don’t like frames. The main equipment is also impressive. Most of all, I remember the work with air rifles, thermal imagers (Testo 865) and vacuum machines. At the end of the review cite a few photos.

On the pros and cons of the faculty

In addition to laboratory work, one can mention the teaching staff (many also teach at Moscow State University or Fiztekh), a completely original course of subjects (retreat into continuum mechanics, the method of passes on approximate analytical methods, for example), staff responsiveness. A group of students , after all, the opinion of one student is not always a priority; he can always ask for a guide about something, and in most situations the guide helps. For example, a student room was organized for us with ottomans, a sofa, tables, boards and wardrobes so that you could study and relax at the university. Our course has already twice visited institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI and IFP). Teachers are ready to make changes to the program, if any topic is too complicated or, on the contrary, easy.
Of course, there are also disadvantages. As you know, problems for all non-resident students of the HSE is a long way to the hostel (the faculty is located in Kursk, and the hostel is in Dubki or Odintsovo). Also, the faculty is only three years old, definitely worth adjusting the program. For example, an introduction to continuum mechanics at the end of the first semester was taken by storm, while on mathematical methods we only learned to work with matrices (we could deal with the solution of differential equations). At the same time, as I mentioned above, teachers are ready to adapt to the wishes of students, and it seems to me that in a short time the problems with the uncorrelated program will be exhausted. Many people still believe that at the university with the name “Higher School of Economics”, technical areas cannot be developed. Although the PCF and Matfak have been refuting this stereotype for several years in a row. True, this is the little things.

Here is such a review from a first-year student. Ask questions, happy to answer all relevant.