On 13 February, a delegation from the Academy of oriental languages and cultures “Confucius” (St. Petersburg) and the Stavropol regional branch of the Russian-Chinese Friendship Society visited VSU. The delegation included the director of the academy Zhang Xunli, a representative of the academy’s partner Shandong Pedagogical University, Huang Ke Xian, a representative of the Stavropol regional branch of the Russian-Chinese Friendship Society Vladimir Stoy, and the Vice Chairman of the International Relations Committee Evgeny Akimov. Colleagues from the Stavropol regional branch of the Russian-Chinese Friendship Society, who initiated the meeting, talked about their experience of opening and functioning of the branch of the academy at the Stavropol State Agrarian University. They talked about the opportunities that a centre of Chinese language and culture can give universities and whole regions.
The academy organises individual and group classes, provides training for national competitions and state and international examinations in Chinese. The academy’s students win competitions and get high examination scores. They can also obtain scholarships in China, visit language-study summer camps, take international examinations and learn about the Chinese culture for free. “Confucius” is supported by the government of Saint Petersburg, the General Consulate of China in Saint Petersburg, the Education Committee of Saint Petersburg, and the Headquarters of Confucius Institutes in China.
The Rector of VSU, Dmitry Endovitsky, made a presentation about the university and told the guests how it was relocated from Tartu to Voronezh.
“The Russian period of the university’s history started in 1918. Among our graduates there was Pavel Cherenkov, the first Soviet Nobel prize laureate in Physics. The university buildings are located all over the city, we have our own nature reserve and a military training centre.
We are working in close collaboration with China. I have been to China about 20 times, and the university has its office in China. Our graduates work at many Chinese universities. Thus, we opened the Russian Language Centre at Sichuan International Studies University, and have our representatives there. We held festivals of Russian and Chinese culture together with the University of the National Minorities in Beijing. Our geologists are also actively collaborating with geologists from Sichuan Institute of Nuclear Geology, and our students complete their internships at Qingdao University of Technology. There is a Chinese Alumni Association.
During the pandemic, there was less interaction. However, we hope that we can say this stage is over”, said Dmitry Endovitsky.
The rector introduced the other participants of the meeting: Yulia Svetashova, Head of the Chinese Centre of VSU, Oleg Belenov, Dean of the Faculty of International Relations, Dmitry Lomsadze, Associate Professor at the Department of Regional Studies and National Economies, and Danila Znatkov, lecturer at the Department of Translation and Professional Communication.
Mr Huang Ke Xian talked about the history of Shandong Pedagogical University, the academy’s partner. He pointed out that the university provides training in various fields of study. At the moment, the university has 21 faculties, and the number of students is 60 thousand.
The “Confucius” academy and the university are eager to contribute to the development of partnership between our countries”, said Huang Ke Xian.
Ms Zhang Xunli talked about the “Confucius” academy. She pointed out that the school has been functioning in Saint Petersburg for over 20 years now. Over these years, the school has trained 7,000 students with 70% of them getting excellent marks.
The participants of the meeting discussed further plans to open the Academy at Voronezh State University.
