Mexican ambassador chairs St Petersburg University’s Academic Programme Council

The Ambassador thanked for the warm welcome and noted that there are many different areas to strengthen the partnership between Mexico and St Petersburg University. ‘As an academic myself, I put my heart into ensuring that Mexico gets the recognition it deserves in the world. And, of course, I would like St Petersburg and St Petersburg University to become even better known in my country,’ said Eduardo Villegas Megías.

Nikolay Kropachev noted that St Petersburg University is ready to make every effort to make scientific achievements of Mexico more familiar to students and academics. In this regard, he came up with several proposals. In particular, the Rector of St Petersburg University invited the diplomat to join the Council of the academic programme "Foreign Languages in Global Communications", which will soon be established at the University. Almost every one of the more than 500 programmes run at St Petersburg University has such councils. The participation of representatives of the professional community in these activities provides a qualified opinion on what materials should be added to the curricula of academic disciplines. It is also an opportunity to strengthen the international component of the University’s academic programmes.

About five years ago, St Petersburg University had only eight programmes with a Chinese component; now there are already 80 of them. The most prominent examples are: "Law with Advanced Studies Chinese Language and Law"; and a similar programme in Economics, "International Management", and "Tourism". There are similar programmes with Japanese, Korean, Hungarian and other components.

Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University

‘In this way, we are training experts who are able to ensure cooperation between the countries at the highest level and help them understand each other,’ said the Rector of St Petersburg University.

Currently, St Petersburg University has cooperation agreements with just two universities in the United Mexican States: the National Autonomous University of Mexico; and the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. In this regard, the number of joint publications is not so high: in the last five years, Russian and Mexican scholars have published more than 390 scientific articles. However, a number of them have a high index above the global average in the fields of biomedicine, chemistry, history, archaeology, arts, biology, energy, IT and computer sciences, health sciences and law. In human society, the index is as high as 4.5. Student mobility is also low: there are currently seven students from Mexico studying at St Petersburg University. In total, more than 5,000 foreign citizens are students of the University. According to the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), St Petersburg University has been recognised as the most sought-after university in Russia among international applicants for the fifth year in a row. During the meeting, Nikolay Kropachev put forward an initiative to hold a presentation of St Petersburg University for Mexican universities in order to find new partners among them and further increase student mobility. The Rector of St Petersburg University also suggested considering a direct cooperation agreement with the Mexican Ministry of Public Education.

Eduardo Villegas Megías agreed to participate in the work of the Council of an academic programme at St Petersburg University. He said that he plans to visit St Petersburg during the year. If he can, he will therefore be able to attend events at the University, and will be ready to deliver an open lecture to University students and staff about the current situation in Mexico. The diplomat added that he would review St Petersburg University’s academic programmes and try to supplement their curricula with literature used in Mexican universities. Additionally, he proposed that work be initiated to conclude agreements between St Petersburg University and the Secretariat of Public Education of Mexico for the recognition of bachelor’s degrees at St Petersburg University and with the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) to develop cooperation at the master’s and doctoral level.

During the meeting, Nikolay Kropachev invited the Ambassador to become a member of the programme committee of the international forum "Russia and Ibero-America in a Gobalizing World: History and Modernity".

The possibility of establishing a representative office of St Petersburg University in Mexico and holding a meeting with representatives of Mexican businesses operating in the Russian market was also discussed. The Rector of St Petersburg University proposed to create a Mexican Cabinet at the University, where students interested in this country could gather, hold meetings with representatives of Mexico and celebrate national holidays. For example, there are now Chinese, Korean, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese and other cabinets at St Petersburg University.

As a result of the meeting, it was decided to send formal proposals from St Petersburg University to the Mexican Embassy.