History, Philosophy, Cultural Studies

The last decade of the twentieth century became a serious challenge for the department "History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies", established in 1992. It comprised mostly of social science teachers, whose main task was ideological education of students. Following collapse of the USSR and loss of the dominant position of communist ideology, the need for teaching social sciences became open to question. In this regard especially difficult was the situation in technical universities. Teachers of social and humanities courses had to find their niche in the new system of higher technical education and prove their worth in the educational process.

The way out of this situation was suggested by life itself. At the turn of the 1990s - 2000s it became clear that the Department of Social Studies and Humanities, like any other, should be based on its own scientific foundation, turning from an ideological structure into a scientific and methodological unit. Moreover, in this case, it was important to take into account specialization of the university, as well as the possibility of interaction with scientists and teachers of technical courses. In addition, the need of maintaining educational functions of social scientists became obvious, but their activities moved from the field of ideology to the sphere of spirituality and culture.

At the beginning of a new millennium, academic, cultural and educational activities of the department have intensified significantly. It was planned to hold an annual conference dedicated to Tatyana’s day (Student’s Day). To the 115th anniversary of the university, student scientific-practical conferences “OSTU in the history of the Trans-Siberian Railway” were held at the educational flows of faculties and institutes. In 2015, the department organized and held the All-Russian student scientific conference with international participation, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in World War II.

At present, the department is conducting a state budget research topic "Modernization processes in society and in railway transport", on which an interim report is submitted annually. All members of the department with academic degrees actively participate in work of the methodological seminar of OSTU "Actual problems of the social and humanitarian sciences." A methodological seminar is constantly held at the department, for which both scientific and scientific-methodological issues are submitted, dissertations of graduate students and applicants are discussed.

Members of the department are regularly recruited as opponents and experts of dissertation theses. Every year, the department acts as a leading organization on the defense of dissertations on historical and philosophical problems.

Over the past five years, the department’s staff has published three monographs and about 160 scientific articles (including 55 in journals recommended by the Higher Attestation Commission for approbation of dissertation research). During this period, teachers and graduate students of the department took part in the work of about 50 scientific conferences and congresses, including 20 international ones.

The department is actively working on the organization of the students’ research activities. Up to 40 reports are submitted annually to the All-Russian student scientific conference with international participation “Student: Science, Profession, Life” in the sections “History”, “Philosophy”, “Cultural Studies”. The best of section reports are published in the conference proceedings.

As part of the department’s action plan for the period from 2013 to 2017. interdepartmental and continuous conferences were held honoring the 1025th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Russia; 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty and Zemsky Cathedral in 1613; 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War; 75th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad; 100th anniversary of the Great Russian Revolution. In honor of the 115th anniversary of OSTU, the faculty conference "History of the university - the history of the country" was held.

Since 2013, the university has been a member of the Open International Internet Olympiads project. In the discipline "History of Russia", students of OSTU in 2013 won prizes at the regional stage, where students from 12 universities in Siberia and Transbaikal region took part. In total, owing to the efforts of the teachers of the department from 2013 to 2017, 14 students of OSTU became winners of international Internet olympiads in "History" and "Philosophy" courses.

The department collaborates with SGUPS (Novosibirsk), successfully attracting students of OSTU to the annual All-Russian competitions and olympiads organized by the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies.

Since 2013, a quiz has been held annually using information technology on the basis of the television program “My Game” in the discipline “History”. In 2016-2017, a quiz on the subject “History of Railway Transport” was held in honor of the 120th anniversary of the West Siberian Railway and the 180th anniversary of Russian Railways, respectively. The quiz is held with the aim of involving students in creative activities, developing their information culture, as well as expanding their horizons, developing the ability to think, act logically, based on previously acquired knowledge.

In 2013-2015 professors of the department and associate professor T.N. Khromenkova were members of the organizing committee of the All-Russian Student Scientific and Practical Conference with international participation dedicated to the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, in which students of OSTU successfully participated.

In 2016, the department acted as a co-organizer of the “Big Ethnographic Dictation”, which was attended by more than a hundred students of Omsk State Transport University, and also attracted students to the regional conference “Combatting Ethnic and Religious Extremism”, organized by the Ministry of Education of the Omsk Region, Main Department Omsk Region Domestic Policy, Omsk State Pedagogical University, Omsk House of Friendship.

In 2017, OSTU students became winners of an essay competition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the 1917 revolution in Russia. The competition was organized aiming to preserve national cultural traditions, introduce young people to scientific research, developing research skills to work with historical sources and literature.