UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 9, 2015. Ural State Pedagogical University‘s and Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University‘s Learned Councils voted for the two colleges to merge into one, USPU‘s press service reports. An ad hoc committee decided on the preliminary name for the integrated college, which is Bazhov University. The idea is to get USPU reorganized through a merger with RSVPU, the former being the college applying for reorganization and the latter a partner one. Now Russia‘s Education Ministry announced the start of a selection procedure on October 16, 2015 to pick out the best

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 9, 2015. The average price of a square meter of housing on Yekaterinburg existing homes market has declined by 6% since the start of the year, Ural Real Estate Chamber reports. As of November 2, 2015, the average asking price came to 71,682 RUR per m2. Prices dropped most in the city‘s least expensive outskirts: down 1.9% in the last four weeks, 52,815 RUR per m2 on average. Also, centrally located apartments grew 1.4% less expensive, 98,008 RUR per m2 on average. As for the city‘s second and third most expensive locations, prices went down by 0.7%, down to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 9, 2015. Alexei Dolgikh, a PTK 860 turner from Uraltransmash (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) won the second prize in Glory to the Man of Labor, a professional skills contest, the corporation‘s press service reports. ‘Alexei has won in similar contests many times before. Last year, for example, he came second in an in-plant competition, and this August, he was No.1 in Ural Vagon Zavod Corporaiton‘s Best Turner contest,‘ the press service says. The competition was held at Venta Plant and attracted twenty-one contestants from Yekaterinburg,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 9, 2015. Ural Vagon Zavod assessed the results of the year-long series of amateur Olympics dedicated to the V-Day 70th anniversary. There were twenty-five championships altogether, with 23,000 people taking part (+2,000 participants on last year). According to the corporation‘s press service, the games are held on a yearly basis in order to promote physical culture and sports among the workers. A billiard tournament and a relay race took place for the first time this year. ‘Just like in the previous years, the championships that attract the most participants are

UrBC, Moscow, November 6, 2015. The Russian market’s business activity was estimated at 49 points in October 2015, which was the lowest indicator in the last seven months, Finmarket refers to Markit as stating. According to Markit, the PMI index in the tertiary sector dropped down from 51.3 points in September to 47.8 points in October, which means it has gone down below the critical point for the third time in the last five months. The tertiary sector’s activity experienced a downfall because new orders mostly failed to come and a certain portion of production facilities were left idle.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 6, 2015. Ural Federal District has been investing less in logistics and operates fewer logistics facilities than Russia’s other federal districts, InfoLine reports. ‘Very few new projects were started between January and October, which may, in 1.5 to 2 years, result in warehouse shortage, as the new supply will grow limited,’ the agency says. There are currently fourteen large warehouse facilities in the district, which is the smallest number among all federal districts. Far Eastern Federal District, on the other hand, has the largest number of such facilities

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 6, 2015. Yekaterinburg Council has issued 661 construction permits since the start of the year, the city council’s press service reports. 483 permits were issued for 625 re-started construction projects, including 81 apartment buildings (total area 848,000 m2), 203 private houses and low-rise housing (total area 91,000 m2), and 301 non-residential buildings (total area 1.038m m2). ‘Some of these projects are apartment buildings in Sector 9 of Akademichesky District in Krasnolesye St, Chkalov St, and Amundsen St. Akademichesky Yug acts as the developer for the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 6, 2015. Alexander Litvinenko, assistant foreman from ChTPZ Group’s Finishing Center, won the first prize in Industrial Automation at the 2nd WorldSkills Hi Tech 2015 Championship, the company press service reports. Additionally, the Group’s employees Ilya Ivanov and Alexander Pauls won silver in Mechatronics and Alexander Ilynykh and Roman Barkhatov came second in Mobile Robotics. All the contestants who represented ChTPZ Group at the championship are the Future of White Metallurgy Program alumni; the program is the company’s PPP implemented in cooperation with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 6, 2015. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation congratulated the winners of WorldSkills, the national blue-collar job championship. According to the corporation’s press service, their HR Director Sergei Saranchuk, acting on behalf of the company (the event’s sponsor), presented all of the gold winners with an up-to-date tablet computer. Students from Nizhniy Tagil Metal Treatment School (part of the corporation’s Corporate University) Ivan Uzkikh and Almat Ibrayev won the third prize in Industrial Robotics. Both winners are currently in their last year of studying Welding

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 5, 2015. Inflation rate went up by 0.9% in October 2015 compared with September 2015, Sverdlovskstat reports. Food items grew 1.2% more expensive, while prices of strong drinks and non-food items rose by 1.1% and 1%, respectively.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 5, 2015. A number of Lastochka electric trains (made by Sinara Group’s Ural Locomotives) will get launched by Sverdlovsk Railways on commuter routes on November 5, Sinara Group reports. ES2G 001 and 002 go from Yekaterinburg to Nizhniy Tagil, with stops in Verkh-Neivinsky and Nevyansk, twice a day, and from Yekaterinburg to Kamensk-Uralsky, with stops in Koltsovo, Aramil, and Khramtsovskaya, once a day. The first route takes two hours and the second one one and a half hours to complete. There are five cars per every train. November timetable is already available

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 5, 2015. Job-seekers on Yekaterinburg labor market are now asking to be paid, on average, 35,000 RUR a month, which is 3,000 RUR more than at the start of the year, HeadHunter reports. Yekaterinburg happens to be Ural Federal District’s only city where pay expectations have gone up. In the rest of Sverdlovsk Region, applicants typically expect to be paid exactly as much as a year earlier (25,000 RUR a month in Kurgan, 30,000 RUR in Tyumen and Chelyabinsk, 35,000 RUR in Surgut and 50,000 RUR in Salekhard). ‘Judging by the proposed pay figures quoted by

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 5, 2015. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant/PNTZ (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) is launching an extra magnetic particle test unit, the company press service reports. The new unit will ensure quality control of 100% of OCTG couplings that are produced by PNTZ Finishing Center. The MPT unit can test up to 2,400 product units with the diameter of 73 to 195mm per shift. The apparatus works to identify localized stray magnetic fields that emerge in the defective area with the help of ferromagnetic particles which serve as an indicator. The unit was supplied by the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 5, 2015. A group of delegates from Russia’s Industry & Trade Ministry and Sverdlovsk Region’s Industry & Trade Ministry came to Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil. According to the corporation’s press service, the head of the national ministry’s Ural division Alexander Tarasov and his deputy Viktor Kilin met Ural Vagon Zavod’s Executive Director Vladimir Roshchupkin. The officials talked about the industry’s current economic problems and the performance of Russia’s largest machine-building companies. Ural Vagon Zavod is the first

UrBC, Moscow, November 3, 2015. Alcohol imports to Russia might grow somewhat irregular starting from January 1, 2016, as wholesale suppliers won’t be able to register with the Unified State Automated Information System or the strong drinks turnover database in time, Alexei Nebolsin from Russia’s Pillars said to Izvestiya. ‘Wholesalers are expected to register by the end of the year and retail chains by July 1. The system will apply to manufacturers and wholesalers right after New Year, even though we are informed just under 5% of Russia’s strong drinks wholesalers are actually prepared for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 3, 2015. As of October 1, 2015, 1,094 businesses and sole traders were undergoing bankruptcy proceedings in Sverdlovsk Region; this is 128 companies, or 13%, more than a year earlier. Russia’s Federal Tax Service’s local division reports the number of insolvency claims soared in the third quarter of the year: 74 new bankruptcy proceedings were instituted in three months. ‘The last time we’ve seen such a dramatic increase was five years ago, in the third quarter of 2010, when bankruptcies came along in the aftermath of the recession of 2008. At the same time, this

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 3, 2015. ChTPZ Group signed a four-party agreement with Ural Federal University, Pervouralsk Metallurgical School, and Sverdlovsk Region Government to renew and expand its public-private partnership in the field of blue-collar cadre training. The Future of White Metallurgy Training Program is targeted at providing the country’s metallurgical sector with skilled workers. The original agreement, signed five years ago, resulted in the entire infrastructure for the project such as a modern, 7,500-m2 training center with simulators supplied by Festo and Prosoft, a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 3, 2015. Ural Vagon Zavod Scientific & Production Corporation is taking part in the 2nd WorldSkills Russia Championship, a blue-collar jobs contest that is now being held in Yekaterinburg. ‘Five employees from four of the corporation’s member enterprises are already busy completing the tasks. Besides, Ural Vagon Zavod hosted a round table discussion during the championship, to look into the prospects of how the machine-building giant and the country’s educational establishments could work together,’ the company press service says. All in all, 220 young

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 3, 2015. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant/ChTPZ and Rosnano are going to design a new educational program and qualification standards for metallurgical students who’d like to master the newest methods of treating metals with the help of nano-structured materials, ChTPZ Group’s press service reports. The agreement to this effect was signed by ChTPZ Group’s Director-General Alexander Grubman and Rosnano’s Director-General Andrei Svinarenko during the 2nd WorldSkills Russia 2015 championship. ‘This unique educational program aims to equip our employees with the

UrBC, Moscow, November 2, 2015. The Russian Central Bank’s Board of Directors voted to keep the key interest rate at 11% a year on October 30, 2015, the bank’s website states. ‘The Bank of Russia’s BOD decided on October 30, 2015 to keep the key interest rate at 11%, as considerable inflation risks still hold and there have been no significant changes in the inflation risks/economic slowdown risks ratio. Given this decision, moderately rigid monetary factors and weakened domestic demand will keep on contributing to bringing the inflation rate down,’ the website states. The BOD’s next meeting