SPbU Rector met Consul General of Norway

The University has 11 partner universities and 20 research centers in Norway, SPbU Rector Nikolay Kropachev told Dag Malmer Halvorsen. The University has prepared 314 publications together with Norway. If the University signs new agreements with Norway’s research foundations, it can boost the number of international students and student mobility, says Nikolay Kropachev. As the University is granted a special status, it can sign direct agreements with the Ministries of Education globally: in 2015, SPbU became the first university in Russia to sign such agreement with the Ministry of Education of China.  

 To boost the collaboration between the University and Norway, the partners can open new educational programme with a specific focus on Norwegian language. St Petersburg University offers the programmes with a specific focus on Chinese and Hungarian: for example, Law with a specific focus on Chinese language and law and Culture and Arts of Hungary.

SPbU is successful in collaborating with the employers: since 2016, the exams are held by only the representatives from the business sector. The students have an excellent opportunity to be assessed by the professional community. The University is ready to start collaboration with the companies with the Norway’s capital in Moscow and St Petersburg, says Nikolay Kropachev.

The employers are actively engaged in the life of the University: it has opened more than 80 councils of the educational programmes which consist of 65% employers, and a number of them are the heads of the councils that can amend the programmes to meet the current demands of the labour market.

Dag Malmer Halvorsen  suggests attracting Norwegian experts in education and research. He told there were more than 30 Norwegian companies in St Petersburg and Leningrad region  that are potential partners of the University.

They also discussed the opportunities for opening a representative office of SPbU in Norway.