St Petersburg University strengthens cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

‘St Petersburg University has been working closely with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences for more than 10 years. It is this partnership that has laid the foundation for future successful cooperation with universities and organisations of the People’s Republic of China. To date, the University implements about 90 academic programmes with a Chinese component, and more than 1,000 students study Chinese. St Petersburg University has a joint laboratory of mathematical problems of multimedia technologies of the University with Huawei, and a joint campus with Harbin University of Technology, where students study exact sciences. Additionally, St Petersburg University has agreements with the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, Heilongjiang, Shandong and Sichuan provinces,’ said Sergey Andryushin, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of St Petersburg University, opening the meeting.

Special attention was paid to the issue of academic mobility, with student exchanges identified as one of the key areas of cooperation.

Thus, St Petersburg University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences discussed the issues of organising exchange programmes for students of humanities. The parties agreed to sign relevant agreements in 2024. 

During the meeting, Sergey Andryushin offered his Chinese colleagues the opportunity to participate in the University’s Partners’ Forum, which will take place in September next year. He also put forward an initiative to organise a joint research centre for Russia-China relations to strengthen the partnership in science. 

In turn, Comrade Zhang Zhengwen said that twice a year the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences holds "Russia Week", i.e. a festival where students learn about the country’s culture. The academy president suggested inviting scholars from St Petersburg University to deliver lectures to the students during the event. He also noted that the University’s experts could take part in the Sino-Russian Humanitarian Forum to be held next year in Beijing. 

Aleksandr Petrov, Professor at St Petersburg University and Executive Director of the Russian-Chinese Centre for Comparative Social, Economic and Political Research, invited experts from China to attend the Jubilee Forum on Comparative Sociology to be held at the University in April 2024. Additionally, he stressed that the participation of Chinese experts in the conference on comparative sociology of St Petersburg University to be held next year is also welcome.

The Russian-Chinese Centre is a project of research into present-day transformation processes in Russian and Chinese societies, implemented in accordance with the cooperation agreement concluded in 2002 between St Petersburg University and the Centre for Comparative Political and Economic Studies of the Central Bureau of Translation under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (the People’s Republic of China). The Russian-Chinese Centre is a research and information and training coordinating public organisation at St Petersburg University.

Following the meeting, it was decided to draw up a roadmap for higher education cooperation for 2024. The parties expressed confidence that long-term partnership relations will contribute to the development of science and education between the two countries.