St Petersburg University establishes cooperation with the Federal Republic of Somalia
Warsame Abdullahi Haji Daud, Chargé d’Affaires of the Federal Republic of Somalia, has visited St Petersburg University. During the meeting, the parties outlined promising areas of cooperation in the field of science and education. They also discussed the issues in teaching the Somali language at St Petersburg University.
Welcoming the delegation, Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that currently more than 120 world languages are taught at St Petersburg University, but Somali is not among them. He stressed that the University is ready to create an academic programme for the study of Somali. For this purpose, a native speaker teacher is needed, and to invite such a teacher, the support of the Embassy of the Republic is required.
Warsame Abdullahi Haji Daud said that cooperation between Somalia and the USSR was established in the 1970s and 1980s to support the economy of the African continent. He also stressed that today, due to the unstable political situation in the state, the development of the education and science sectors in the country is particularly important. "Of course, a lot has been lost due to the civil war in our region. However, it is worth noting that the geographical location of our state is strategically important. Through cooperation with St Petersburg University, Somalia will be able to concentrate natural resources in its hands," the diplomat said.
About 29,000 people from Africa have studied in degree and non-degree programmes at St Petersburg University.
The meeting also addressed the issue in admission of Somali applicants to St Petersburg University. "Every year, the University admits a thousand international students to the government-funded places and another thousand to the fee-paying places. However, there are no Somali students among them," Nikolay Kropachev noted. In this regard, it was suggested that, together with the Somali Embassy, the academic programmes of St Petersburg University be promoted by organising exhibitions, career guidance events and presentations at schools and universities of the republic.
During the discussion, it was also suggested that cooperation be developed in the field of teaching Russian as a foreign language in Somalia. This could be facilitated by the opening of a Russian language centre of St Petersburg University, and the implementation of online courses developed by the University. Earlier, a similar project was implemented by the University in Tanzania with the support of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and the Tanzanian non-profit organisation "Tanzania Save The Community Initiatives" (TASACI). Since 2021, St Petersburg University has been working to promote the Russian language in Africa as part of the activities of the Language Testing Centre at the University. The University conducts free distance Russian language courses in Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, Algeria, the Niger, and Tanzania.
The parties also agreed to organise joint cultural and scientific events focused on Somalia and the development of the region within the framework of Russia-Africa cooperation.
Following the meeting, it was decided to organise the participation of Somali experts in large-scale international events co-organised by St Petersburg University, including the St Petersburg International Economic Forum and the St Petersburg International Legal Forum. Warsame Abdullahi Haji Daud expressed the hope that this step will be the beginning of a long and fruitful cooperation.