Ambassador of Mexico Eduardo Villegas Mejias meets with KFU leadership and plays Bach
A visit was arranged on 29 August.
At the University, the Ambassador was welcomed by First Vice-Rector Dmitry Tayursky, Vice-Rector for International Affairs Timirkhan Alishev, Director of the International Office Olga Vershinina, and Deputy Director for Research of the Lobachevsky Library Yulia Leksina.
The guest toured the History Museum and listened to a presentation by Vice-Rector Alishev.
“I used to study philosophy and was a professor, so I can say that I am closely connected with the academic sphere. When I became ambassador, one of the main tasks I set for myself was to promote academic cooperation between Mexico and Russia. I believe that we have a lot to offer to the world, and so does Russia. Unfortunately, Mexico and Russia do not have much academic cooperation. When I received an invitation from Rais [Governor] of the Republic of Tatarstan to visit your province, I could not miss the opportunity to visit the biggest university in your region,” noted Dr Villegas Mejias.
“We have growing cooperation with Latin American countries. There are hundreds of Ecuadorian and Colombian students here. We also have established the Center for Ibero-American Studies. As for Mexican students, there is currently one, and we also have three Mexican employees,” responded Dr Alishev.
There is a huge interest in Russian language in Mexico, said the Ambassador. One of the Mexican universities has over 500 students of Russian language.
“Of course, Kazan University should contribute to improving the quality of Russian language teaching in Mexican universities, We are ready to provide our digital platform for Russian language learning to representatives of this university within the framework of partnership relations. A number of Iranian, Turkish, and Chinese universities are learning Russian on the platform. It is constantly being improved,” reacted Alishev.
To this, the Ambassador noted that Mexico is always open in helping with Spanish language studies, be it study materials or internships for KFU educators.
He also mentioned Latindex – Regional Cooperative Online Information System for Scholarly Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal.
Ms Leksina informed that Kazanites and their Mexican peers have co-authored over 100 papers in the past five years.
“Latindex will be added to the electronic treasury of Kazan University and its library and will unquestionably be in demand among students and teachers who are interested in Latin American themes and languages,” she opined.
Dr Mejias handed over a book on the history of Mexico with his preface to the Lobachevsky Library.
After having seen a grand piano in the Emperor Ballroom, the visitor couldn’t help but play a fragment from one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s works.