St Petersburg University offers its experience in implementing a clinical approach to colleagues from China

The Linguistic Clinic at St Petersburg University was opened last academic year. Yet, officially the Linguistic Clinic has begun its work just recently. During this time, the Linguistic Clinic has strengthened ties with the professional community, implemented a number of projects and planed new projects. Additionally, it has shared experience with Chinese universities.

Click here to visit the page of the Linguistic Clinic on the St Petersburg University website.

The clinics are a unique project of St Petersburg University. The project was launched on the initiative of Nikolay Kropachev at the Faculty of Law at St Petersburg University in 1996, said Marina Lavrikova, Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities at St Petersburg University. ‘Since then, the project-based approach has been introduced into our academic programmes. I am very glad that the St Petersburg University philologists are opening the second clinic,’ said Marina Lavrikova. ‘As part of what is commonly referred to as the third mission of universities, our work is very important from a practical point of view. What we do is necessary for people and society, and we do it with students under the guidance of academic staff. Students, in their turn, gain competencies and practical experience.’

Opening the Linguistic Clinic is a significant event, said Mikhail Koryshev, Dean of the Faculty of Philology at St Petersburg University. ‘This event seems important to me also because our country is now on the verge of crucial transformations,’ he said. Being able to manage the team and its representatives has always been a challenge in the academic work both in Russia and abroad, he added. ‘The Linguistic Clinic and the clinical approach enable us to overcome some barriers between those who study and those who teach, between each student and each lecturer.’

As part of the practice for students in philology, the Social Translation Centre at St Petersburg University also offers its services and provides opportunities of clinical practices for future translators and interpreters.

The Linguistic Clinic is also expected to promote the Russian language and culture and to develop literacy among population, said Ianina Myznikova, Associate Professor and Acting Head of the Department of the Russian Language at St Petersburg University. She also thanked Associate Professor Ekaterina Zorina, Director of the Linguistic Clinic at St Petersburg University. Additionally, clinics are a response to the increasing demands of the labour market, when an employee must acquire both professional skills and soft skills, said Mariia Dorokhina, Head of the Placement and Career Services at St Petersburg University and Head of the Career Centre.

Ekaterina Zorina, Director of the St Petersburg University Linguistic Clinic, expressed gratitude to her colleagues, students, and representatives of partners. According to Ekaterina Zorina, interacting directly with employers enables students to adequately look at the realities of the labour market and receive valuable practical information. ‘This information is important for developing professional and career tracks. It is also important in developing competencies in our methodological work,’ said Ekaterina Zorina.

Elizaveta Belichenko has graduated St Petersburg University. She is Associate Professor in the Department of Russian at the School of Foreign Languages at Northeast Normal University (Changchun, China). She told the audience about how they had exchanged experience with the Linguistic Clinic.

For me, being able to cooperate with the Linguistic Clinic as an expert is an opportunity to get acquainted with students and colleagues from St Petersburg University. Additionally, it is an opportunity to gain an insight into what the clinic-based approach to education is. Today, education in China is developing rapidly. We will definitely acquire this experience. For me, it is a good opportunity to organise a clinic-based approach to education in our Chinese universities.

Elizaveta Belichenko, a graduate of St Petersburg University; Associate Professor in the Department of Russian at the School of Foreign Languages at Northeast Normal University (Changchun, China)

There were ceremonies of signing agreements on cooperation between St Petersburg University and employer-organisations. Among the employer-organisations are: Viva Lingua OOO, that is represented by General Director Ekaterina Kiian; Clever Publishing House, that is represented by editor-in-chief Elena Izmailova; and Gymnasium No 284 of the Kirovsky District of St Petersburg, that is represented by Elena Shchurskaia who has received the title "The best head of the state educational institution of St Petersburg". On behalf of St Petersburg University, the agreements were signed by Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities Marina Lavrikova. Cooperation involves exchange of information and expert evaluations; interaction in the organisation of internships and employment of students; development of special courses and modules of disciplines for targeted training of students to meet the demands of the labour market; and participation of partners in monitoring the quality of education to name just a few.

At the end of the official part, Ekaterina Zorina, Associate Professor at St Petersburg University, made a presentation on the achievements of the Linguistic Clinic over the past year and its ongoing and planned initiatives. The students and graduates who are involved in the work of the Linguistic Clinic presented projects and held a workshop on developing rhetoric and self-presentation skills together with specialists from the Psychological Clinic at St Petersburg University. Among the graduates was Alina Gamzatova, a graduate of the master’s programme "Legal Linguistics" and a curator of the area of study in applied rhetoric.