Embassy of Iceland in the Russian Federation to collaborate with SPbU
H.E. Ambassador Ásgeirsdóttir has visited St Petersburg University. She met with Acting Rector Ilia Dementiev and they discussed collaboration issues.
Ilia Dementiev told about the history of the University, its traditions and prospects for collaboration. “Over other universities SPbU has a number of advantages: among them are quite a number of scientific schools, opportunities for interdisciplinary research, special status which ensures a high level of collaboration with international partners. St Petersburg University was the first university in Russia to study the Old Icelandic language. Moreover, we have rich experience in collaboration with the officials from other countries. About six months ago, we met the Minister of Education and Culture of Cyprus, who consequently became a head of the council of the education programme at SPbU”, — said Ilia Dementiev.
Partner collaboration with the University is a high priority, says Berglind Ásgeirsdóttir. “Some time ago we opened a centre for linguistic research. We want you to study Iceland and its language. One of the areas for collaboration is student exchange programmes”, — added Berglind Ásgeirsdóttir. Besides, she suggested collaboration on the Arctic region.
The Ambassador met with the students in the Scandinavian studies. “Today the Old Icelandic language, which is an ancestral language to a number of the languages in Scandinavia, is part of the bachelor’s courses at the University, and Icelandic is incorporated in graduate courses in philology», — said SPbU’s Associate Professor Elena Krasnova. The students, in their turn, had an opportunity to talk in Icelandic with Berglind Ásgeirsdóttir. The students had a very high level of proficiency of Icelandic, said the Ambassador.
They also discussed the opportunities to open an educational programme on the Icelandic philology. Presumably, the University will invite experts in linguistics from Iceland to read lectures. Moreover, they planned to hold an international conference on Icelandic culture, history and language at SPbU in the next year.
For reference
The study of the North-European languages at St Petersburg University was initiated by a renowned philologist Mikhail Ivanovich Steblin-Kamensky. In 1958 he opened the first department of the Scandinavian philology in Russia and was the head of the department for the next 20 years. М.I. Steblin Kamensky introduced to the Russian readers the great monuments of the Old Icelandic literature: sagas, scalds poetry, Poetic Edda, and Prose Edda to name but a few. The grammar of the Old Icelandic language written by Steblin Kamensky is regarded one of the most authoritative grammar, and his translations were published in Denmark ,Iceland, Norway, USA, Czech Republic, Estonia, and Japan.
He was awarded a Honoris causa of Stockholm University and Reykjavik University for excellence in education and research.