St Petersburg University begins collaboration with Allameh Tabataba'I University
Vice president for research of the Iranian University Dr Seyed Jalal Dehghani Firoozabadi was present at the ceremony of signing of the agreement.
Today, St Petersburg University studies Iran, the Iranian language and culture. Sergey Andryushin, Deputy Rector for International Affairs at St Petersburg University pointed out that such active research would be impossible without support from the Iranian partners of the University.
Allameh Tabataba'I University is one of the leading universities of Iran. Today’s collaboration agreement will be a great contribution into the development of Iranian studies at St Petersburg University and internationalisation of the University.
Sergey Andryushin, Deputy Rector for International Affairs
Vice president for research of the Iranian University Dr Seyed Jalal Dehghani Firoozabadi underlined that in Russia Iranian studies are on a very high level and that collaboration between Allameh Tabataba'I University and St Petersburg University has enormous potential. Today, St Petersburg University cooperates with three Iranian universities: the University of Tehran, Sharif University of Technology, and Tarbiat Modares University.
Russian and Iranian participants of the meeting said that both St Petersburg University and Allameh Tabataba'I University are classical universities. Allameh Tabataba'I University is a liberal arts university, which is why the areas of collaboration are the Iranian and Russian languages, history and culture. Sergey Andryushin and Dr Seyed Jalal Dehghani Firoozabadi agreed that it is also very important to develop collaboration in the mutual fields of research. For example, at the Iranian university there is a centre for teaching Farsi and at St Petersburg University there is the Centre for the Study of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The participants of the meeting discussed the possible formats of collaboration between St Petersburg University and Allameh Tabataba'I University. St Petersburg University proposed to arrange an assessment centre for Russian as a foreign language, training seminars for teachers of the Russian language, and different master classes. During the meeting, representatives of both universities expressed their interest in an exchange of students and teachers. Another suggestion was to organise short-term internships for teachers in both universities.
Sergey Andryushin suggested arranging online lectures of the teachers of the universities as a first step in the development of collaboration between St Petersburg University and Allameh Tabataba'I University. It was decided to choose the topics which are potentially interesting to students of both universities.
The ceremony of signing the agreement was held online. Before the day of the ceremony, the representatives of the universities had met online eight times. However, both parties pointed out that they would want to meet face-to-face in Russia and in Iran.