ASU and PFUR discussed the opportunity for African students to study at the classical university

On 29 June Altai State University hosted a round-table concerning collaboration in the area of humane sciences. The UN expert in cultural diplomacy, PhD in Political Culture and Idiology, executive director of “International Ethnos Diplomacy” Foundation, assistant professor of the Department of Mass Communication of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (PFUR), chairman of Coordination Committee of African Expatriate Community in Russia Mr. Zenebe Tafesse Kinfu visited the event as a guest.

The round-table participants included ASU vice-rector for international affairs development Roman I. Raikin, head of the International Affairs Department Alexey Yu. Rezinkin, vice-dean of the Faculty of Mass Communication, Philology and Political Science Evgeniy P. Petrov, head of the Department of Russian as Foreign Language and Oriental Linguistics Lidia M. Dmitrieva, professor of the Department of Political History, National and Confessional Relations Petr K. Dashkovskiy, deputy head of the Department of Cooperation with Higher Education Institutions under Altai Krai Central Office for Education and Youth Policy Tatiana V. Manyanina, etc.

Roman I. Raikin told the honoured guest about the key direction of Altai State University international activity. He also reminded that ASU and PFUR were the long-time partners and were implementing the partnership agreement successfully. Vice-rector mentioned the classical university’s recent achievements in work with foreign students and prospects for international activities’ development.

In his turn, Mr. Zenebe Tafesse Kinfu provided the information on the resources that he had been using to attract African students to Russian universities. He prefers to use the opportunities of “International Ethnos Diplomacy” Foundation and Coordination Committee of African Expatriate Community in Russia for these purposes.

The representatives of the Faculty of Mass Communication, Philology and Political Science touched upon the faculty’s potential in teaching the Russian language to foreigners. The recent deliverance of Bachelor’s diplomas to 18 Chinese students brightly illustrates the practical experience in this area.

As far as the purpose of the roundtable was developing the mechanisms of cooperation between ASU and PFUR in terms of African students’ education in Russian universities, the parties agreed to start establishing specific measures for African students’ enrollment to Altai State University.