Head of Rossotrudnichestvo Yevgeny Primakov met with international students
The meeting on 15 May was attended by more than 50 students of Kazan Federal University and was moderated by Vice-Rector for International Affairs Timirkhan Alishev. In his welcoming speech, he noted that the university currently has about 12 thousand international students, a thousand of whom receive education within the scholarship quota admission (administered by Rossotrudnichestvo).
“Almost 90 percent of young people from Indonesia and Syria study on quotas, and many scholarship students come to us from Africa. We are very pleased that Kazan Federal University is attractive for students. We are doing everything possible so that they could show their talents in education, science and culture,” Dr Alishev said.
Head of Rossotrudnichestvo told the participants of the meeting about the activities of the federal agency. In his opinion, welcoming international students to Russian universities is very important for the country.
“Russia’s objective has always been to educate representatives of other countries, who afterwards return to their homeland and make the life of their country richer and more successful in all spheres. This creates and strengthens friendly relations between us,” Primakov emphasized.
The meeting continued with speeches of foreign students, postgraduates and employees of KFU who were or are scholarship holders of the Government of Russia. They shared their histories of studying and living in Russia.
One of them is Mohamed Abdelaal, master’s student of the Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies, Project Engineer of the Laboratory of Generation, Storage and Transportation of Hydrogen and Energy Carriers with Low Carbon Footprint. The native of the Arab Republic of Egypt came to Russia in 2018 without any knowledge of the language.
“After finishing my bachelor’s degree, I was a junior researcher, and now I am an engineer at a scientific laboratory. We work with big projects and companies such as Gazpromneft. In addition, I try to actively participate in the university’s life. I keep my own channel where I show how we work in the laboratory, and I also write scientific papers,” he shared.
Mohamed Abdelaal added that he plans to finish his master’s degree with honors and then continue his postgraduate studies.
Alina Tsay, teacher of Russian language pre-bachelor training at the Preparatory School for International Students, specialist of the adaptation of foreign citizens of the International Office, also presented her story. She enrolled in the University in 2014 on a scholarship.
“While studying in the master’s program, I started working in the International Office, where I have worked with international students and have organized related events,” Tsay said.
According to her, after graduation she pondered coming back home to Uzbekistan. However, she has been living in Russia for 10 years now and actively helps foreign students to adapt in Russia. She also spoke about KFU’s International Friendship Club. Dr Alishev reminded that the Club celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023.
Chrispin Soko, master’s student of the Institute of Management, Economics and Finance, activist of the International Friendship Club and the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Zambia, shared his experience of studying Russian language and culture. In his opinion, Russian is one of the most beautiful languages.
“After preparatory faculty and undergraduate studies in Russia, I returned to my hometown of Lusaka in Zambia. There I worked as a Russian language teacher at the Russian House. After that I came back to Russia and now I am finishing my master’s degree. In the future I want to work as a researcher,” he said.
The meeting continued as an open dialogue.
“I was very pleased with the questions of young professionals, which touched on almost the entire range of areas: from worldview aspects to how to get the next level of education, to launch a scientific project or how to build a connection with Russia and their alma mater after returning home,” concluded Mr Primakov.