The project “Ambassadors of Russian Culture in Africa“ implemented at Lobachevsky University

For three months, 200 students from Nizhny Novgorod and foreign universities were taking part in educational trainings on intercultural communication, practical master classes and foresight sessions on Russian culture (literature, theatre, cinema, sports, and cuisine) that were conducted in English, Arabic, Russian and French. 100 Russian students from Nizhny Novgorod universities - Lobachevsky University, Dobrolyubov State Linguistic University, Minin State Pedagogical University, National Research University Higher School of Economics, and Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration - acted as ambassadors of Russian culture. 100 foreign participants from the Sadat Academy of Management (Cairo, Egypt), the University of Cape Town (Cape Town, South Africa) and the Russian House in Brazzaville (Brazzaville, Republic of Congo) joined the project activities in the online format.  

“This project is a bridge between Russia and the countries of another continent. Here I saw for the first time how people in a different part of the world perceive with great interest our Russian fairy tales, folk games and traditions. When we were talking, reading fairy tales by role, guessing the words, I could feel how foreigners were becoming imbued with Russian culture. I am glad to be an ambassador, to tell the whole world about our big soul and to see such results!” - shares her impressions Natalia Valesheva, a first-year master student at the UNN Institute of Philology and Journalism who took part in the project,

“The project was realized for the second time and has so far included 400 participants from 7 countries, which allowed us to form an international community of ambassadors of Russian culture both in the Russian Federation and abroad. Russian students develop unique competencies, they not just gain experience in communication, but also, thanks to educational training sessions, they learn to express themselves competently, learn about the peculiarities of behaviour of people from other cultures and their diversity, simulate problematic communicative situations and find ways how to resolve them, work in a team, demonstrate their leadership skills, as well as practice their foreign language skills. At the same time, foreign participants who study Russian abroad can learn more about Russian culture, they have an opportunity to get acquainted personally with young Russians and learn about Russia and Russian people firsthand. The project materials give foreigners an opportunity to pass on the knowledge gained within the project in their countries”, said Anna Ngoma, Associate Professor of the UNN Institute of Philology and Journalism, head of the volunteer movement “Integration”.

The project activities were supported by the staff of the Department of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language of the UNN Institute of Philology and Journalism, the UNN International Cooperation Department and the volunteer movement “Integration”.