St Petersburg University establishes cooperation with the Chinese provinces

While welcoming the honoured guests, Sergey Andryushin, Deputy Rector for International Affairs, said that educational and academic interaction with China is an important area of international activity of the University. Most of international partners of the University are located in China, and the largest research projects are carried out together with Chinese universities, foundations and organisations.

Mr Andryushin pointed out that being the oldest university in Russia, St Petersburg University ranks among the leading interdisciplinary research centres of the World. One of the key research priorities of the University is ecological security. Special Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes are aimed to train experts who will study problems of the environment – ‘Ecology and Nature Management’, ‘Ecology. Biodiversity and Nature Protection’ and others. Students and teachers take part in international ecological projects on a regular basis. For example, Harbin Institute of Technology and St Petersburg University created a Research Centre for Ecological Safety (Minutes of the Rector’s Meeting dated 15 April 2019). The Russian and Chinese scientists work together on the problems of waste water treatment and other questions of public water supplies of large cities. Apart from this, St Petersburg University developed and registered several water treatment systems and technologies that monitor pollution of water resources in megalopolises. Mr Andryushin underlined that St Petersburg University takes great interest in ecology. The University is open for collaboration with the Chinese partners and is always ready to foster cooperation in the area of ecology or other spheres.  

Chen Wenhao, Hunan province Vice governor, said that the government of the region is interested in establishing contacts with St Petersburg University, which is considered a university of the same level as the leading universities of China – Tsinghua University and Peking  University. The most promising area of cooperation is ecology. Hu Changqing, Director of the Forestry Department of Hunan Province, said that nowadays the Chinese Central Government and the government of the province attach particular importance to environmental protection and restoration of natural resources.

We are working on improving the environment in Hunan province, and we hope to reap the benefits of our efforts soon.

Hu Changqing, Director of the Forestry Department of Hunan Province

‘Today, we are focused on Dongting Lake, the Xiang River and several other small rivers on the territory of our province. Also, we work on the creation of national parks, conservation areas and other nature conservancy zones in the province.’ Mr Changqing said. ‘We would like to establish cooperation in the areas of environmental management, forest and swamps protection, soil treatment, and forestry restoration with major research centres in Russia, especially with St Petersburg University.’ The Research Centre of Hunan University of Forestry can be a platform for collaboration.

As a result of the meeting, the parties decided to arrange a video conference for the scientists of St Petersburg University, the leading universities of Hunan province, and the experts of the People’s Government in order to discuss the areas of possible collaboration.