NOVOSIBIRSK STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY
The agreement was signed by the NSPU rector Alexey Dmitrievich Gerasyov and the executive director of the Center for Public Diplomacy, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Novosibirsk Region Natalia Rudolfovna Krasovskaya. The agreement says that the university and the public organization are going to develop and implement teaching and educational projects for students in Burkina Faso, attract young people from this West African country to apply to NSPU, and also provide language courses for them.
- We have already opened “The Russian House” in Burkina Faso, and this summer we’re planning to open “The Russian Houses” in Niger and Mali. These countries have created their own alliance, and now orient their work towards Russia. Teaching Russian as a foreign language in French is our first joint program. So, we deeply value our partnership with NSPU. It has a profound school of teaching Russian as a foreign language here, and also there is a sufficient number of highly qualified teachers who can teach Russian in French. I hope with financial support from Rossotrudnichestvo we will invite a large number of students from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to NSPU to study. These three countries show a great interest in learning Russian, namely, in Burkina Faso there are currently 220 people studying the language, and another 800 are on the waiting list. So, we’re inviting Novosibirsk teachers to “The Russian House” to have an internship first. You’re always welcome to work in our team! – said Natalia Rudolfovna Krasovskaya.
The Center for Public Diplomacy expects that in the future similar projects will extend to other African countries beginning with French-speaking ones, and then, possibly, English-speaking ones as well.
- The university considers such cooperation as our participation in solving one of the key tasks, set by President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, which is to promote the Russian language abroad. This promotion is our soft power, working for the country’s reputation abroad and to support our economic projects. The second important aspect of this cooperation for us is the increase in the number of foreign students. On May 7, the President signed a decree “On the National Development Goals of the Russian Federation for the Period until 2030 and the Outlook until 2036.” One of the points of this decree is to increase the number of foreign students in Russian universities to at least half a million people. To accomplish these tasks, we need more foreign partners, - noted the NSPU Rector Alexey Dmitrievich Gerasyov.
In addition, as the rector points out, after partnership cessation between NSPU and universities in Europe, the USA and Japan, the main focus of the international policy is to find new university partners. Cooperation with the Center for Public Diplomacy will make this work more effective.
