Cooperation between Lobachevsky University and Chinese universities discussed in PRC

Alexander Bedny, UNN Vice-Rector for International Affairs and Networking, represented the university as a member of the official delegation of Nizhny Novgorod in China, which took part in a series of events in two sister cities of Nizhny Novgorod: Jinan (Shandong Province) and Hefei (Anhui Province).

The visit included the opening of Nizhny Novgorod's economic, cultural, educational and tourist centre in Jinan. This city is one of the first foreign twin cities of Nizhny Novgorod, and 2024 will mark 30 years of twinning relations. The Nizhny Novgorod delegation held a meeting at the newly-opened Centre with representatives of international services of three universities: Jinan University, Shandong University and Shandong Polytechnic.

Alexander Bedny also visited three schools in Jinan, where he presented Lobachevsky University and international cooperation programmes in the university-school format. He also spoke about the opportunities for Chinese applicants to become Lobachevsky University students. The management of Chinese schools is interested in developing direct cooperation between schools of Jinan and Nizhny Novgorod. This matter will be discussed with the colleagues at the schools of the UNN university cluster.

"Our visit to Shangdong Transport University, Lobachevsky University’s long-standing partner in implementing joint educational programmes and academic mobility, left a special impression. This is exactly the case when one feels quite at home when visiting partners. Here we were welcomed by Chinese graduates of Lobachevsky University, who are now working in the international divisions of Shandong Transport University, and by the students of the UNN Institute of International Relations and World History, who are now studying at Shandong Transport University under the international academic mobility programme. The girls are very pleased with their participation in the mobility and hope to use their Chinese language skills and their experience abroad to work in the international services of our university when they return home," said Alexander Bedny.

He also made a presentation to the students of the Institute of International Education at Shandong Transport University, telling them about Lobachevsky University and our joint programmes.

Currently, more than 1000 students of Shandong Transport University study Russian as a foreign language.

The visit continued in another sister city of Nizhny Novgorod, Hefei. The delegation visited three universities and met with the management of secondary schools. Lobachevsky University and Hefei University have been partners since 2016. At the meeting, the participants outlined plans for their cooperation in the near future.

Alexander Bedny also paid his first visit to UNN's new partner university, Anhui International Studies University.

"We have signed an agreement on academic exchanges with the university management and discussed the setting up of a joint educational programme in economics and finance with intensive study of the Russian language. By the way, several Chinese colleagues told me that they are considering the concept of "Linguistics+" as a promising line for developing linguistic education: training professionals in a particular field who speak foreign languages and have international communication skills. Such professionals of international level are in high demand nowadays with major Chinese corporations, such as car giants, manufacturers of electronics, IT technologies, etc., doing business all over the world, including Russia," the Vice-Rector noted.