The Consul General of Turkey will head the board of an educational programme of St Petersburg University

The Rector of St Petersburg University informed that the University is interested in raising Turkish studies to a higher level, and invited the Consul General to take part in the work of the council of the educational programme «Turkic Philology». He added that students should not confine themselves to learning the language and culture: the Turkish component, similar to a Chinese, Hungarian or Japanese component, should penetrate into the teaching of various disciplines, from philosophy to law.

The Consul General of Turkey agreed to head the council of the programme and said that the universities of the Republic of Turkey had expressed a desire to cooperate with Russian universities, and not only in the field of learning Russian. In particular, the visit of the University of Economics and Technology under the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey is scheduled for the near future. Also, Mr Yunus Belet noted that the number of Turkish students who want to study the Russian language has increased recently, and many of them would be interested in continuing their education in Master Degree programmes and Aspirantura programmes of Russian universities. However, for the time being academic mobility is impeded by the language barrier. To increase the flow of foreign students, the diplomat suggested that St Petersburg University should open a Master Degree programme in Russian law in English.

Also, during the meeting, they discussed the possibility to publish the Almanac of Modern Russian Prose in Turkey, with works by famous writers inside, including academic staff of St Petersburg University. Another topic was the organisation of examinations on Russian for Turkish students, as well as tests for students of St Petersburg University on the Turkish language.