On 23 March, a meeting of the Academic Council of the Faculty of International Relations was held in the main building of VSU. It was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the faculty. Over the years, the faculty has evolved from a small pilot project into a successful and dynamic research and education unit of the university, training specialists in international political and economic relations. It is the only educational centre in the Central Black Earth Region that systematically trains bachelors in the fields of International Relations (International Integration and International Organisations, World Politics), International Regional Studies (European Studies), and Economics (Global Economy).
Congratulating the faculty and the participants of the Academic Council, Dmitry Endovitsky, VSU Rector, noted, “On 25 January 2002, Tatiana’s Day, a new faculty was born at VSU, which remains by far the youngest. It emerged from the Department of International Relations and Foreign Languages at the Faculty of History. Today, my main wish for the faculty is to retain its established ties. In the current international situation, we still have reason for cautious optimism, it is only a matter of time.
Oleg Belenov, Dean of the Faculty of International Relations, spoke in more detail about the history of the faculty, its current structure and academic staff. At the meeting, video greetings from colleagues from other universities across Russia were shown. The faculty was greeted by Danil Kustov, Head of the Voronezh Region Economic Development Department.
Pavel Kanapukhin, Dean of the Faculty of Economics (Dean the Faculty of International Relations from 2011 to 2014), and Vladimir Glaziev, Dean of the Faculty of History at VSU, also congratulated the faculty. These two faculties played an important role in the development of the Faculty of International Relations. Moreover, the faculty was congratulated by Semion Kurolap, Dean of the Faculty of Geography, Geoecology, and Tourism, these faculties are now actively cooperating.
The teachers, staff, and friends of the faculty were presented with certificates and letters of acknowledgement from the administration of VSU, the region, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Voronezh Region.
Congratulations to the faculty and memories of it were expressed by Professor Anatoly Lyutykh, a former lecturer at the faculty, who is now a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Voronezh, by Aleksei Nekrasov, a graduate from 2003. Many other graduates of the faculty who succeeded in the profession spoke about their achievements and current projects.
Over the years, the Faculty of International Relations at VSU has trained around 3,000 graduates; more than 200 of them are foreign citizens from neighbouring countries and far abroad. A distinctive feature of the faculty is that two foreign languages are now compulsory for each of its academic programmes: students can choose between English, Spanish, French, or German.
