SPbU establishes representation in Barcelona

“Today, in Barcelona, St Petersburg University is launching its first representation in Europe,” said Nikolay Kropachev, SPbU Rector. “We run similar projects in China and South Korea and I have every confidence to say that this initiative is a major step toward fruitful collaboration with our numerous partners in Spain.”

At the launch event, Sergey Andryushin, SPbU Deputy Rector for Foreign Affairs, claimed that today the University has over 480 partners including colleges and universities from across the world.

“Our special focus is on the partnership with 16 Spanish educational institutions, including the University of Barcelona, whose representatives kindly accepted our invitation to attend the launch event. I am sure that the project is another step forward to establish effective collaboration with our partners and it will turn into a working platform to raise the profile of the oldest university of Russia as well as Russian education, language, and culture,” Sergey Andryushin said.

Interestingly, back in 1981, SPbU and the University of Barcelona signed one of the first international partnership agreements on science and education. The document preceded another agreement on the twinning of St Petersburg and Barcelona signed four years later.

“The House of Russia in Barcelona does not have a long history, however, we are gaining momentum. Our mission is to raise the awareness of Russian culture and continue a multi-century partnership between Russia and Spain. Albert Einstein once said “Culture and education are the two things which remain after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.” We hope that the House of Russia and SPbU representation in Barcelona will run many joint projects, conferences, educational programmes for Russian, Spanish, and Catalan citizens,” said Anna Silyunas, General Director of the House of Russia in Barcelona.

Aleksandr Pankov, Consul General of Russia in Barcelona, promised that the initiative would gain support of Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Barcelona and Embassy of the Russian Federation in Madrid.

“I know it for a fact, SPbU representation has an ambitious agenda in Barcelona. It is clear that the project is very promising and will benefit all the stakeholders in education and training. I wish St Petersburg University every success, effective and continued work here, at the House of Russia,” said Aleksandr Pankov, Consul General.

To mark the official launch event of SPbU representation in Barcelona, the House of Russia hosted an exhibition on the University’s history and present time. It celebrated outstanding SPbU alumni, Nobel Prize winners, and provided background on SPbU partnership with leading Spanish universities and centres of research. On the same day, the House of Russia in Barcelona witnessed the signing of the agreement on opening SPbU representation as well as SPbU Language Testing Centre in Spain.