Dr.Sc.Tech., Professor N.P. Konovalov
Associate Professor E.G. Shporin
Associate Professor L.F. Natalevich
Dr.Med., Professor M.M. Kolokol'tsev
National Research Irkutsk State Technical University, Irkutsk

Keywords: history, university, physical education department, sport achievements.

The formation of the Physical Education Department at National Research Irkutsk State Technical University is closely related to Lesgaft Leningrad Institute graduate V.G. Kind, who was the head of the Department as an independent structural unit of the University since 1949.

In the course of the University development the Department staff was increasing. New teachers A.N. Litvintsev, R.G. Vadutov, E.I. Mikhalev, V.I. Kirillov, B.I. Kalashnikov, Z.S. Maksimova, V.P. Shulikov, R.G. Mratova, P.M. Tochilov, P.I. Ineshin, V.I. Siliava came in the mid 50s - early 60s.

It was then when new sports started forming. The University Greco-Roman wrestling team won the first place at the "Burevestnik" Central Council Championship in Minsk in 1959. The wrestlers were also the first in 1960. They were even more successful at the Republican Student Games (1965 - Ivanovo, 1968 - Irkutsk) where they took the first place twice. The list of prize-winners of various championships among Russian universities also included football players, boxers, skaters, cyclists and paddlers.

The golden age of sport in the University began when it moved to the campus. The Department got the best gym in the city. The resource base of the Department was growing rapidly: boxers, wrestlers and weightlifters got their separate gyms. When the University got its own stadium it was like a dream come true. People from entire University was involved in its construction. Graduates of sport universities B.D. Malykh, L.Y. Mikhaleva, L.A. Salova, L.K. Fedorenkova, N.M. Oshcherina, V.G. Kuriga, L.S. Cherepennikova, L.N. Shil'nikova, V.G. Kozhemyakin, Y.P. Polianskiy and others, joined the teaching staff of the University and since their arrival the work of the Department has changed dramatically.

The achievements of the biathlon team at the time deserve special attention. In 1966 and 1968 they were the strongest among the universities of Siberia and Russian Far East, and in 1967 under the guidance of coach V.I. Kirillov the team was the second among the universities of Russia. The University teams were the winners of regional student games in 18 sports for many years. Some of them have left the most prominent trace. For example, Irkutsk Polytechnic Institute graduate Ekaterina Ivanova, Honoured Master of Sport of the USSR in mountaineering, the first woman in the USSR who climbed Mount Everest, the largest mountain on earth - 8848 m. She is the second woman in the world by the number of climbs of mountains above 8 km. From 1987 E. Ivanova has been in the national teams of the USSR and Russia. She is Honoured Master of Sport, trainee of coaches K.K. Markov and M.A. Nikulin, Olympic Champion (Seoul, 1988), World Champion (1990) and silver medallist of the Olympic Games in Barcelona (Spain, 1992).

During this period, IrSTU already had a sufficient base for physical education of students: a gym hall in the main building with an area of 972 square meters, a gym for wrestling - 162 sq. m., boxing - 300 sq. m., weightlifting - 50 sq. m., a shooting range, a stadium, a skiing lodge and one sport centre. The gym in the main building was equipped with a wall-simulator for the mountaineer and climber training.

Since 2001 Irkutsk Polytechnic Institute graduate Eduard Grigorevich Shporin has been a head of the Physical Education Department. In 2008 the IrSTU stadium became the place of training of the Russian Olympic and Paralympic national teams in track and field athletics for the Beijing Olympics.

The educational process is carried out by 3 professors, 3 associate professors and 20 senior lecturers. More than 94% of teachers have degrees. In 2006, the Department opened a postgraduate course on the speciality 13.00.04. 9 postgraduate students and 17 applicants were studying there in the 2014-15 academic year.

The University has 34 sport facilities, including: a stadium with fifth-generation artificial turf, simultaneous capacity of 170 people and stands for 2500 seats; a modern athletics field and 8 tracks; a gym for basketball, volleyball and futsal training and competitions, which has the simultaneous capacity of 50 people, and a unique, in relation to size and variety of surface, climbing wall. In addition, the University has 12 other gyms (for wrestling and boxing, tennis, fitness, games and dancing) and 14 planar structures (for hockey, tennis, basketball, volleyball and football).

The total area of gym halls and planar structures of NRIrSTU is 84223.84 sq. m. and their simultaneous capacity is 1075 people, that allows to fully provide both educational and training processes.

The learning process involves 1-4 year students from 9 institutions and has a duration of 400 hours. There are 3 divisions that carry out admission with regard to students' gender and health characteristics:

1st department (women's gymnastics) is where the educational process is carried out with the use of modern technologies of fitness-aerobics. The intra-university competition is held at the end of the 6th semester. Individual programs of performance of the faculty teams are developed by the students under the guidance of teachers, that is considered as a form of educational and research work of students.

2nd department (men's overall conditioning) - training sessions are conducted involving mainly athletics technologies and sport games. The monitoring and testing of students' physical development and physical fitness are carried out at the beginning and at the end of academic year.

3rd department (special health group). The classes include elements of eastern (wushu, qigong, yoga, breathing exercises) and western (individualization of dosing of physical activity) health technologies in view of the type and severity of disease.

The University has the Centres of biomedical research and health technologies (scientific supervisor – Professor V.Y. Lebedinsky) responsible for health improvement activities. They provide biomedical support of students doing sports in IrSTU; scientifically substantiate the programs and methods of sport medicine; study adaptive changes in the body of students and athletes within management of the training process; determine their fitness level; and adjust physical education teacher selection and sport orientation processes.

In accordance with the Federal Target Program "Youth of Russia" (2002-2005) a research laboratory "Monitoring of Physical Health" has been created at the Department to customize the educational process on the subject. The Department specialists have developed an educational and methodological complex which includes students' physical health monitoring system as a variable part.

In collaboration with the sport club, which has 33 sections involving more than 1200 students, the Physical Education Department carries out mass sport events. Thanks to the Department research and methodological developments applied the University teams could achieve significant results during competitions of various levels.

11 Masters of Sport of International Class, 17 Masters of Sports, 88 Candidates for Master of Sport and 224 first class athletes have been trained at the Department from 2010 through 2015.

The ongoing work to facilitate scientific research at the Department has drastically changed its personnel potential and resulted in an increase of the number of scientific publications. By 2014-2015 the percentage of teachers with degrees has increased nearly 7.5 times (23% versus 2.4% in 2004, 1 Doctor of Science and 1 Associate Professor in 2004 versus 3 Doctors of Science, Professors and 3 Associate Professors in 2015). Since 2007 there have been published 21 monographs, including 12 dedicated to the issues of physical culture and sports. Two monographs "Innovative Technologies in Modern Sport" and "Health Passport. Monitoring of Health of the Subjects of University Educational Process" were awarded with the laureate diploma of the All-Russian Exhibition "Golden Fund of National Science" held in Moscow in 2010 and known to be the best educational publication in the area. In 2013, the monograph "Physical Development and Physical Fitness of Child Population of the City of Irkutsk" in 3 volumes under the editorship of Professor V.Y. Lebedinsky was awarded with the laureate diploma of the All-Russian competition for the best scientific book of 2012 by the Fund of National Education Development.

Thus, in 2004-2006 from 5 to 20 scientific papers were published, since 2007 their number increased from 35 to 120 in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The number of articles published by the central press significantly increased - up to 20 papers per year.

The Physical Education and Sports Faculty staff actively participates in conferences and seminars held in universities of Irkutsk, Russia and CIS countries with presentations and reports (15 reports in 2004 versus around 90 in 2013, 2014, 2015 every year).

The staff of the Physical Education Department of IrSTU organized three international scientific conferences (Irkutsk, 2005, 2008, 2011) called "East-Russia-West" with the participation of the specialists in the field of physical education and sports from the USA, Brazil, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Mongolia and China.

The Faculty of Physical Education and Sports pays special attention to research work of students (the head - Professor M.M. Kolokol'tsev). Scientifically inclined students collaborate with the Department. Their number increased almost by 10 times from 32 (2010) to 309 (2015). So, the number of students presenting papers at conferences in 2010 was 23 versus 85 in 2015. The students together with the teachers of the Department received 7 certificates of state registration of the computer program in 2010.

Conclusions. During 65 years of operation the Physical Education Department of National Research Irkutsk State Technical University has gone through successful transformation from the sport section of the Reserve Officer Training Department (1949) to the Faculty of Physical Education established in 2008. The success of its operation is also confirmed by the quality of professional activity, quantitative and qualitative growth of the research and teaching personnel, the efficiency of the methodological support of the university educational process on physical education, as well as research progress of the staff and students. 

References

1. Kafedra-Tsentr – fakul'tet. Istoriya kafedry fizicheskoy kul'tury (Department - Center - Faculty. History of physical education department) / Ed. by E.G. Shporin, V.Yu. Lebedinsky, M.M. Kolokol'tsev. – Irkutsk, 2010. – 178 p.

Abstract
The paper contains historical materials of formation and development of the Physical Education Department of National Research Irkutsk State Technical University commemorating 85 years since the establishment of the university. The researchers describe the historical events, give information about people who have made a significant contribution to the transformation of the sport section at the military department to the Faculty of Physical Education. There is given an adequate description of the current performance of the Physical Education Department in various fields of work. Changes in human resources and the number of scientific publications are presented. By 2014-2015 the percentage of teachers with degrees has increased nearly 7.5 times (23% versus 2.4% in 2004). Thanks to the use of innovative technologies in the educational and training processes the Physical Education Department of NRIrSTU could not only improve the physical health of those involved in the educational process, but also promoted the growth of sport achievements of the university teams. Since 2007 there have been published 21 monograph, including 12 dedicated to physical culture and sports, and the number of publications has increased 6 times. The number of articles in journals significantly increased up to 20 a year. Since 2010 students and teachers of the Physical Education Department have received 7 certificates of state registration of the computer program, and the number of student publications has increased more than 20 times.