5th Olympiad in Russian as a foreign language "Lobachevsky/RU" closes at UNN
On 31 March, UNN hosted the summing-up ceremony of the 5th anniversary International Olympiad in Russian as a foreign language "Lobachevsky/RU". A total of 946 foreign citizens studying both at foreign educational organisations and at Russian universities took part in the competition.
Olga Petrova, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia, welcomed Olympiad participants and thanked Lobachevsky University for upholding the tradition.
"Five years is a considerable amount of time for such a global international event, which shows its relevance and the demand for it around the world. The fact that each year the number of participants only grows, proves once again that the interest in Russian as a foreign language is rising, and that our culture is of interest. It is especially gratifying to see that the participants actively express themselves, are not afraid to demonstrate their level of language skills, they strive for more and achieve tangible success," said Olga Petrova.
Oleg Trofimov, Acting Rector of Lobachevsky University, congratulated the winners and awardees on their deserved success and also noted the growing popularity of the Olympiad worldwide:
"We are proud that our Olympiad unites people from all over the world who have chosen the Russian language to study and to receive education. Russian has been and will remain one of the languages of international communication, the language of rich literature and culture. This year, the Olympiad brought together representatives from 84 countries, and the top 10 countries by number of participants included: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, China, Egypt, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Serbia, Moldova and Colombia".
The closing ceremony was attended by Olga Guseva, Director of the Department of International Relations of the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod region, and Alexander Bedny, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of Lobachevsky University.
"We are very pleased to provide informational support to this event, to help attract our partners from foreign countries to participate in it," said Olga Guseva.
In 2021, the Lobachevsky/RU Olympiad was included in the list of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which allows the winners and awardees of the Olympiad to qualify for tuition-free Master's programmes in Russia through an intergovernmental quota.
One of the winners of the Olympiad was Juan Diego Araniva Martinez from El Salvador. He thanked the organisers for the opportunity to participate in the Russian language Olympiad. The young man plans to follow in the footsteps of his brother, a chemistry student at Lobachevsky University, and apply to UNN Institute of International Relations and World History.
"Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Russia and visit the UNN campus. I used to feel apprehensive about applying to a university in another country, but after talking to the students, I became confident in my decision to apply to Nizhny Novgorod University," shared Juan Diego Araniva Martinez.
The full list of winners and awardees in the different categories will be posted on the Olympiad website.