A meeting of the research platform No. 4 “Multiculturalism as a Reflection of the Social and Political Integration” took place at the University as part of the international forum “Linguistics and Challenges of the Modern Paradigm of Public Relations: Interdisciplinary, Intercultural, and Interlanguage Interactions” held by the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology. This platform had been organised in collaboration with a partner of VSU, the University of Lille (France). Among other organisers were the University of Nantes (France) and the Voronezh regional office of the Association of European Studies. The participants of the platform took part in a lively discussion of pressing issues of multiculturalism as a phenomenon of the modern society; the issue of interpenetration of cultures, and the prospects of identity in the future; multiculturalism as part of the European policies and the social integration strategy; change of cultural paradigms and strategies of conflict management in intercultural interactions; technologies of teaching understanding and communication in multicultural environments; discursive strategies for describing multicultural linguistic identity; and more.
Among the participants of the platform were leading specialists in the area. They included representatives of Russian universities: Professor S.K. Gural (Omsk), Professor E.A. Alexeyeva (VSU), Professor N.V. Loseva (Moscow State Institute of International Relations), Professor R.K. Tangalycheva (Saint Petersburg State University), and French partner universities: Professor Garik Galstyan (Lille), Walter Zidaric and Catherine de Wrangel (Nantes), who took part in the forum in person, and Antonella Mauri, Raphaël Eppreh-Butet (Lille), and Dahmani Bachir (Nantes), who gave presentations online.
A number of interesting interactive events were held within the platform. For example, of great interest was the round table discussion “Russia-France Dialogue: Experience of International Cooperation in the Area of Secondary Education”. The participants of the conference learnt about a unique experience of the UNESCO Associated School, Nikitin Gymnasium with an advanced curriculum in the French language. Zh.I. Kaverina, the Headmaster of the gymnasium, its pupils, and teachers presented various forms of international activities: bilingual Russian and French department under the aegis of the French Institute, UNESCO programmes, school museum, DELF/DALF international examinations, creative events in collaboration with a lyceum in Lille (France). Most of the international cooperation at the gymnasium is held within a trilateral cooperation with the French Institute (the French Embassy in Russia) and VSU.
The participants also found interesting the round table discussion “Russia-France Dialogue: Experience of International Cooperation in the Area of Secondary Education. Interaction Formulas, Achievements, and Prospects”. E.A. Alexeyeva, DSC in Philology, Head of the Department of French Philology at VSU, holder of the Order of Academic Palms (France), who moderated the discussion, had invited for the discussion university professors who were awarded with the prestigious national award of France for the development and promotion of the French language and culture. Among the participants of the discussion were: L.G. Vikulova (Moscow State Pedagogical University), Yu.N. Sdobnova (Moscow State Linguistic University), I.V. Skuratov (Moscow State Regional University), N.V. Yegorova (Moscow State Linguistic University), O.I. Kostikova (Moscow State University), L.L. Chitakhova (Moscow State Institute of International Relations), M.K. Ogorodov (Moscow State Institute of International Relations), Yu.N. Glukhova (Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia), Ye.R. Porshneva (Nizhny Novgorod State University) who shared their unique experiences of managing Russian-French cooperation.
The projects of the International Centre for Semiotics and Intercultural Dialogue also considered issues of multiculturalism.
At the end of the event, the participants of the platform agreed that the discussed issues are timely and important.
