The first university in Russia attracts partners from China
Education collaboration between Russia and China dates back to XVII century, when the countries established direct contacts between each other. It was a time when Beijing opened the Russian language school at Hanlin Academy in Beijing and St Petersburg started to teach Chinese. St Petersburg University was the first university in Russia that established scholarly traditions in Chinese studies. SPbU and China have so far continued to reach new heights in research, education and social sphere.
Today, St Petersburg University has over 20 partners in China. Two countries seek to enable collaborations in research, to implement joint projects in education and research, to support education exchanges for students and academic staff, to hold conferences, seminars, round-table discussions, summers schools, and to publish monographs and Russian and Chinese translations.
SPbU has signed a direct agreement with the Ministry of Education in China which enables SPbU to encourage its students to gain China experience and accept Chinese students on a regular basis essay writing service. More than 800 Chinese students were enrolled at St Petersburg University in 2016. Last year, under academic exchange programmes 45 university teachers visited China, while 70 teachers from China visited Russia.
One of the overarching priorities is collaborations in research. For the last five years, SPbU researchers with their counterparts from China have published 286 papers indexed in Scopus and Web of Science.
Two countries support their relationships at the highest level in economy, politics and social sphere. There is a high demand in Russia to employ those who know the Chinese language, law traditions, legislation, and business. SPbU students are exceptionally lucky here!
In 2016, SPbU has started to enroll on an undergraduate programme in Law with a specific focus on the Chinese language and law. The initiative was proposed by business community since there is a high demand for those who would be able to support Russia-China business. Students enrolled on the programme will be offered internship programmes in the companies which closely collaborate with China.
Hopefully SPbU is planning to open graduate programmes in different fields of study, including those programmes in which its partners from Chine are engaged. Representatives from Chinese companies are the members of the Attestation Committees and Councils for Education Programmes at SPbU, thus identifying what competencies students should acquire upon graduation. SPbU seeks to attract highly-skilled specialists to develop and implement educational programmes, which is a core strategy of the University that aims to equip its graduates with the best of high-demand skills at labour market.