ROSTOV-ON-DONU, December 7. /TASS/. Don State Technical University (DSTU), Rostov Region's flagship multi-discipline higher education center, and VTB Bank's branch in Rostov-on-Don have set up an Endowment Fund at the university to support young scientists, the rector of DSTU Besarion Meskhi announced after signing the respective agreement.

The ceremony of signing a donation agreement worth 3 million rubles between the university, the Rostov-on-Don's VTB Bank branch and the "Development of DSTU" Endowment Fund non-profit organization took place on the territory of the Rostselmash plant, which hosted a meeting of the university's Board of Trustees.

"We were offered to open another DSTU Endowment Fund, the university can have several of them. The funds we receive in the form of interest are sent to support young scientists and students developing projects. I think that the fund will become one of the startups that will give opportunities to young scientists, supporting and promoting new ideas and projects," Meskhi said.

According to Maksim Alekseev, Deputy Regional Manager of the VTB Bank in Rostov-on-Don, the foundation of the Endowment Fund will allow the university not only to receive additional financial support for implementing projects, but also to strengthen the region's human resources potential. "Opening such a fund is a practice that is common in all major universities around the world. The program is a stable source of funding for project activities and the development of the university. <...> We hope that the opening of the fund will allow us to come closer to improving the quality of scientific and human resources potential and strengthening the competitiveness of our country," Alekseev added.

DSTU is the oldest university in the Rostov region, established in 1930. The university has about 29 thousand students. Last year, DSTU and 105 other Russian universities became a participant of the Priority-2030 program, designed to support and encourage the development of higher education institutions. The university has a faculty of shipbuilding and marine engineering, and in September Rosatom's company called Engineering and Technology Center GET JSC opened a mathematical modelling school, which became the third in Russia within the framework of the GET JSC network of engineering and mathematical schools.