Forestry faculty is the oldest one of the University. The main activities of the faculty are focused on multilevel system for training forestry engineers, landscape architects, tourism and nature management professionals of the world standard as well as multidisciplinary fundamental and applied research. The faculty staff apply innovative methods of teaching and experimenting in laboratory and natural conditions using modern equipment, computer technology, module-based learning, etc.
EDUCATION
At the six degree-awarding departments of the faculty, students receive versatile and profound knowledge that allows them to subsequently successfully work in a variety of engineering and management positions in the field of forestry, landscape architecture and tourism. Teachers of the departments actively use modern information and multimedia technologies in the educational process, as well as specialized software products, many of which are developed at the faculty. It has become a common practice at the faculty to invite leading professors from Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Lithuania and other countries to give lectures to students, graduate and postgraduate students. Students annually undergo practical training at the Negoreloe Forestry Experimental Station, at landscaping facilities, including the Central Botanical Garden in Minsk, unique Botanical Garden of BSTU, and during the practical training in the leading forestry, landscape and nature conservation institutions of Belarus students are appointed to the positions of specialists with the payment of wages.
RESEARCH
The scientific and teaching staff of the faculty conducts versatile and fruitful research work at the international level. An important scientific and practical component of the faculty’s work is the development of:
•forestry-ecological and innovative-technological approaches to the cultivation of plantings;
•scientific and practical foundations for improving the quality and efficiency of hunting in Belarus;
•measures to increase the stability of forest plantations, protection forests and harvested products from harmful organisms; study of the structure and properties of wood;
•modern methods and technologies of forest management; optimization and forecast of the size of forest use and structure of forests; application of information technologies in forestry;
•effective technologies of artificial reforestation and afforestation with the use of genetic selection methods and modern means of mechanization on a soil-typological basis;
•promising assortment and technologies for growing flower and decorative plants; improvement of techniques and means of landscape organization of populated areas;
•ecological trails in specially protected and other natural territories of Belarus.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
The Faculty actively develops international cooperation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Finnish Forest Research Institute METLA, the University of Freiburg (Germany), the Eberswalde University of Sustainable Development (Germany), the Warsaw University of Natural Sciences, the Bialystok Technical University (Poland), the Kaunas University of Applied Sciences in Forestry and Environmental Engineering, the Kaunas Botanical Garden (Lithuania), etc.
NEGORELOE FORESTRY EXPERIMENTAL STATION
The BSTU affiliated Negoreloe forestry experimental station with an area of more than 17 thousand hectares is a kind of natural laboratory in which a significant part of the educational process of students takes place. Almost all types of forest plantations of various tree species found in the Republic of Belarus are represented on the territory of the forestry, where more than 100 experimental sites are set up. The full implementation of the main goal of the BSTU affiliation is facilitated by an excellent material base that meets the most demanding up-to-date requirements. One of the most interesting objects of forestry is the botanical garden, which is among the largest in Belarus. It was founded in 1954, currently its area is 25 hectares, collections include more than 600 tree and shrub species and over 700 species of ornamental, cultivated and medicinal plants. On the basis of the botanical garden, the project of the ecological trail «The fairy tale of the Negorelsky Forest» was implemented, which gave it a unique flavor and originality.