“The project for the construction of the first Russian ship designed by students will change the nature of Russian higher education in the field of shipbuilding”. This was stated on May 21 at the laying ceremony for the research vessel Pioneer M at the Sredne-Nevsky Shipbuilding Plant in St. Petersburg by the rector of Sevastopol State University, Vladimir Nechaev, who initiated the project. “The project is not only changing the nature of Sevastopol State University, but also of the Russian education system. Master's students become competent in new technologies to break into the markets of the future. This is a network model in which students from many universities in the country are involved. This is a practice-oriented model based on a real project rather than an educational project”, said Nechaev. He recalled that the start of the project was in 2016 during the Russian National Contest ‘I Build Ships’, which resulted in the formation of a student design bureau of 45 students from 9 specialized universities in the country. The work of the students was supervised by ‘Coral’ part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation. “Pioneer M’ will become a modular laboratory for the integrated studies of coastal waters: environmental monitoring, development of technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles and underwater vehicles, underwater archeology, etc. ‘Pioneer M’ is the first vessel in Russia to develop ‘shipboard’ navigation. There are many completely new technological solutions in the project: the ship's modularity - there can be an infinite number of laboratories located in standardized containers, composite method of shipbuilding and a hybrid power supply - solar panels are used in addition to traditional sources, , “said Nechaev. According to him, Sevastopol State University’s participation in the project will not end with the transfer of project documentation to the plant. Students will work to optimize the operation of ‘Pioneer M’. In addition, new students who enter the magistracy ‘Innovative Shipbuilding’ will have to implement new projects. “The project design of a new passenger for tourist purposes in Sevastopol Bay is being launched. It should be unique, modern, demand-driven and tourism industry economically feasible. The story continues and turns into a pipeline of projects”, said Nechaev. The ‘Pioneer M’ project is being implemented with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science, the United Shipbuilding Corporation and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. It takes place within the framework of the federal target program ‘Research and Development in Priority Areas of Development of the Scientific and Technological Complex of Russia for 2014–2020”.