A bust of Abai Qunanbaiuly to be erected at St Petersburg University

During the meeting, Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University, emphasised that the University has a number of partnership options to offer to the Kazakh party. ’St Petersburg University can: provide Kazakh universities with digital materials from the M. Gorky Scientific Library; open Russian language centres; send its teachers to deliver lectures; and perform other actions at your request,’ added Nikolay Kropachev.

 One of the key topics put forward on the agenda of the meeting was the decision to erect a monument to Abai Qunanbaiuly on the campus of St Petersburg University. A poet and philosopher, Abai Qunanbaiuly was the founder of Kazakh written literature and contributed to the spread of Russian culture among Kazakhs. He opposed the impersonal and dependent position of women and social inequality.

The Rector said that the bust would be erected in the courtyard of either the Institute of History or the Institute of Philosophy. The opening ceremony will serve to popularise the work of Abai Qunanbaiuly among Russian students. Nikolay Kropachev also noted that the monument would be yet another example of the active development of scientific and cultural cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan. 

In response to the initiative from the Consulate General of the Republic of Kazakhstan, St Petersburg University is open to proposals for the erection of a monument to Dmitri Mendeleev at the leading university in Astana.

Currently, St Petersburg University has cooperation agreements with eight Kazakh universities and research organisations. These include: the Association of Higher Education Institutions "League of Academic Integrity"; Kazakh—Russian International University; and the Ahmet Baitursynuly Institute of Linguistics. Since 2018, 119 publications have been made in collaboration with academic workers from 32 Kazakh research centres and universities.

St Petersburg University also came up with a number of initiatives to develop Kazakhstan- Russia relations and study the Kazakh language at St Petersburg University. Thus, Nikolay Kropachev proposed creating an academic programme in a network form for training experts in medicine. That could expand the resource capabilities not only of St Petersburg University, but also of educational institutions in the partner country. 

Such cooperation makes it possible for one of the universities to act as a platform for student enrolment, while the other acts as a participant providing material, educational, methodological, scientific and pedagogical assistance. Jointly with L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan, St Petersburg University is already implementing the master’s programme titled "Russian Language and Literature". Nikolay Kropachev expressed his hope that such effective model would be adopted to work with other universities in Kazakhstan and more agreements on the network form of academic programmes would be signed.

In order to solve problematic issues and improve the quality of education at your universities, we are ready to send our lecturers who will teach courses and conduct seminars directly in Kazakhstan. The goal of our University is to establish such a partnership that will not allow the outflow of your staff.

Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University

In turn, the Kazakh party is required to provide support for the use of foreign databases and assist in networking with the libraries of leading universities in Kazakhstan. A permission to access research and educational resources, scans of books, monographs and articles from a friendly country will mitigate the consequences of unilateral economic measures against the Russian Federation and support the development of Russian science. 

In addition, St Petersburg University is ready to develop faculty exchanges and invite leading scholars, social and cultural workers and young researchers from the Republic of Kazakhstan to participate in scientific conferences, deliver public lectures and communicate with students who wish to study the cultural, political and economic life of modern Kazakhstan. 

Dmitry Mikhno, Consul General of the Republic of Kazakhstan, thanked St Petersburg University for the warm welcome and eagerness to contribute to the organisation of the educational space and the training of experts. ’We agree to work and jointly solve the issues of creating joint programmes, research institutes, advanced training courses and so on. The Consulate General will send a request with official proposals to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Ministry of Health and other governmental departments of the Republic of Kazakhstan,’ promised Dmitry Mikhno, supporting the initiatives for partnership development.

Now, the world is rapidly developing, so the range of proposals is constantly expanding. Yet one thing is clear. It is impossible to avoid cooperation and mutual support. We need to look for a joint application point.

Dmitry Mikhno, Consul General of the Republic of Kazakhstan in St Petersburg

During the meeting, ideas were expressed to create a language testing centre of St Petersburg University in Kazakhstan. At the moment, 112 University centres are already operating in 50 countries of the world. This year, they started working in Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, and Paraguay. 

In addition to state testing in Russian as a foreign language, proficiency tests are also held in 20 languages, including Hungarian, Serbian, Polish, Chinese, and Japanese. In addition, St Petersburg University is the only organisation in Russia that organises proficiency tests in Hebrew, Yiddish and Turkish. 

Apart from providing qualified education, St Petersburg University also specialises at translations. For example, the University has demonstrated huge success in working with Chinese sources. Sixty to eighty per cent of Chinese materials sent to the Russian Federation are adapted into Russian by St Petersburg University experts.

Jointly with Russian and international educational and scientific organisations, St Petersburg University implements 11 joint programmes. These include: "Medical Chemistry" (Sirius University of Science and Technology); "Mathematics and Applied Mathematics" (Harbin Institute of Technology); and others.

’We can publish in Russia books in the Kazakh language by modern authors, poets and researchers of the law, economy, culture of Kazakhstan. Thus, we will help you develop your national literature and science and increase interest in studying your country. Your republic is different now, and translating modern writers means translating the culture of modern Kazakhstan,’ emphasised Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University. 

As a result of the meeting, it was offered to draw up official proposals for the development of international cooperation and send information on each of the discussed issues to the relevant ministries.