On 31 May, during the 25th EU-Russia Summit, held in Rostov-on-Don, Center-Invest Bank and the international consulting company MVV decon GmbH (Germany) signed an agreement to conduct an energy audit of the South Russian State Technical University (SRSTU).

The university energy audit project will be the first of its kind in the southern Russia. The German company will conduct the audit of the Novocherkassk-based university free of charge as part of a grant made to Center-Invest Bank by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in 2008.

At the end of the audit, the university will receive an assessment of the energy consumption of its academic buildings, laboratories and social infrastructure, as well as recommendations on how it can use energy efficiency technologies to reduce this consumption. Students from SRSTU will have the opportunity to obtain unique experience by participating in the energy audit.

The agreement envisages that the project to create a pilot energy efficient university will have a multiplier effect: by the end of next year, SRSTU is to have presented the results of the energy study to the Rostov Region Board of Rectors and the heads of the educational institutions of the Southern and North Caucasus Federal Districts. 

The agreement was signed within the context of the EU-Russia Project Workshop “Business Partnerships for Modernization”, an initiative of the EU-Russia Industrialists' Round Table. President of the European Commission José Barroso proposed this partnership to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in November 2009 during the EU-Russia Summit in Stockholm. Its aim is to support the processes of modernisation underway in Russia.