NSU and Xinjiang University Expand Cooperation

On September 22, a delegation fr om Xinjiang University visited Novosibirsk State University. Guests participating in the working visit were Xu Xianyi, Vice-Rector and Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the People's Political Consultative Council of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Liu Jianqun, Deputy Head of the Department of International Exchanges and Cooperation, Lu Qingmei, Deputy Head of the Office and, Secretary of the Party Committee, Li Pu Director of the Institute of International Exchanges, and Zhou Jianxing Deputy Head of the Scientific Research Department.

NSU was represented by Rector Mikhail Petrovich Fedoruk, Evgeny Ivanovich Sagaidak, Head of the Education Export Department, Andrey Sergeevich Zuev, Director of the Humanitarian Institute, Igor Vladimirovich Marchuk, Dean of the Mechanics and Mathematics Department, Alexey Grigoryevich Okunev, Director of the Institute of Intelligent Robotics, Aris Tersenov, Deputy Dean of the Information Technologies Department, and M. A. Derzho Senior Lecturer at the MMD Informatics Systems Section.

Priority spheres in the scientific and educational fields of activity and prospects for further cooperation were discussed at the meeting. University leaders noted the significance of the visit because it was the first post-pandemic meeting and in the context of the new international political reality. This makes the vector of cooperation with China especially relevant.

Mikhail Fedoruk, NSU Rector, emphasized,

We have been cooperating with Xinjiang University for more than 20 years and during that time we have achieved some success. We intend to expand and deepen the partnership between the two universities not only in the field of higher education, but also in secondary education. With the commissioning of a world-class campus, being built within the framework of the National Project “Science and Universities”, new opportunities will open up including in the field of international cooperation.

Direct contacts between the two universities began in 1998 when the NSU delegation first arrived in Urumqi. In 2002, a cooperation agreement was signed. In 2008, a Confucius class was opened at NSU and 10 years later it received the status of the Scientific, Educational and Cultural Center “Confucius Institute”. The Chinese partner is still Xinjiang University. At the Confucius Institute, Russian students are taught Chinese and introduced to Chinese culture. In 2011, with the assistance of NSU, a Russian Center was created at Xinjiang University wh ere University students learn the Russian language.

Xu Xianyi, Vice-Rector Xinjiang University, explained,

Our universities have a strong foundation and prospects for joint academic and research cooperation in the fields of language and culture, informatics and computer technology, mathematics and chemistry, as well as other sciences. We will grow by expanding the exchange of teachers and students, jointly carrying out research projects, and collectively publishing scientific works.