The University Branch to Become Part of the International Arts Campus in France

Eric Zuckerman, the campus CEO, said that the International campus is to become a place for students from all countries. Universities from Europe and Asia will open their branches in the palace of Fontainebleau, and their students will continue their academic programmes in the international creative environment. Yet they will be able to attend classes for students from other universities if the content of academic programmes allows this. ‘We aim at giving students an opportunity to communicate and study at various programmes to promote cultural interaction’, Eric Zuckerman said. ‘Besides, each participant of the campus will be able to invite artists from their country to involve students into implementation of real-life creative projects. On our part we’re planning to hold master-classes and workshops for students to interact and develop their skills.’

Thank you for our meeting today. Despite everything which is happening in the world we continue to create history the way we want it to be.

Eric Zuckerman, the International Arts Campus CEO

The University professors, famous artists, told their French colleagues about the development of arts in the University. Professor Ivan Uralov, Senior Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts of St Petersburg University, said that the very idea of such international campus is really fascinating and at the same time quite traditional for such countries as France and Russia, and their students communities as well. ‘The Faculty of Arts is presumably among the youngest in the University. It combines a lot of different arts and takes a broad look at them, adopting the best qualities of specialised educational institutions, whether the conservatoire or art schools. The University is universal, and we clearly display this quality’, he said.

In his speech, Ivan Uralov named some several interesting and promising arts programmes implemented by the University. Applicants may choose bachelor’s and master’s programmes in the filed of restoration which cover the whole range of works, from restoration of architectural heritage sites  and sculpture to objects of fine and applied arts. The Department of Film and TV Artist Skills of the University, according to Ivan Uralov, is highly reputable and considered the best in Russia. Of no lesser interest is the musical programme, in particular, ‘Instrumental Performance: Organ, Harpsichord and Carillon’ and ‘Academic Singing’ in association with the Mariinsky Theatre. Environmental design, painting, theatrical art, graphic design and applied informatics in arts and humanities are developed to the highest at the University. ‘In September 2022, we are opening an applied research centre in the sphere of studying, preservation and actualisation of historical heritage both in terms of material and non-material culture. Both are characteristic of UNESCO and St Petersburg, but also of the University, as it possesses a huge amount of valuables which require studying, restoration and actualisation’, Ivan Uralov said. ‘We think that the centre will become a vehicle to develop connections in this area’.

The Faculty of Arts of St Petersburg University is developing dynamically and represents an ecosystem of creative education. Its obvious edge lies in the possibility of existing in the constellation, the family of arts, exchanging experience and developing joint projects. In this sense our ideology, as I see it, quite complies with yours: an arts campus where all arts coexist.

Galina Zhukova, Associate Professor, St Petersburg University

Evgeniia Petrashen, Assistant Professor of St Petersburg University, Head of the Environmental Design degree programme, said that over the past few years the University has been working on its own Art residence on the basis of a late 19^th century country house which belonged to the Benois family, ‘Dacha Benois’. The premises require restoration, and this may be implemented into the educational process of design students.  ‘Revitalisation of cultural heritage sites through their studying, search for prerequisites for finding out their new function both in history and in present-day social and cultural context are the object of research of our Environmental Design academic programme’, Evgeniia Petrashen said.

Another important issue for the University designers is greening of the urban environment, in which sphere they are cooperating with their French colleagues. Irina Garnier is the official representative of the French Landscape Federation in Russia, which actively cooperates with the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation in the sphere of greening the urban environment. She is on the council of the Environmental Design academic programme. ‘In this respect, ties with France in several directions are relevant and interesting for us’, Evgeniia Petrashen said. She added, ‘I hope that within the framework of our cooperation in the field of comprehensive academic programmes which will enable students to visit both France and Russia and in part study in the form of distance learning will be made possible. I believe we have prospects for multidimensional, multi-form educational process and cultural exchange.’

The palace restoration works are only in the beginning. They are to be finished in autumn 2025, as the historical building needs to be adapted to the needs of departments, and that is when the first students will arrive. To integrate the University into the international project as of today, Deputy Rector for International Affairs Sergey Andryushin suggested implementation of certain programmes in the form of distance learning. He is sure that this way it will be possible to analyse the future audiences and understand how many Russian and international students of the University will be interested in studying at the International Arts campus.

During the meeting, Vladimir Starostenko, Director of the Centre of E-Learning Development, shared the University experience in the sphere of distance learning. He said that St Petersburg University provides more than 300 open online courses at the world’s biggest platforms, including ‘Open Education’ and ‘XuetangX’, with the audience of more than three million active learners. According to Vladimir Starostenko, programmes in IT and Economics are in the greatest demand today, but at the same time programmes in Arts also attract the interest of students, for some programmes the influx of students being up to 2,500 a week. Considering the demand, over the past year the University created a large-scale package of design courses: ‘Design Methodology. Inspiration Management’; ‘Creative Communication: Methods and Instruments’; ‘Introduction to UX/UI Design’; ‘Design, Management and Prototyping (UX/UI Design)’; ‘Design Portfolio’; and others. Most of these courses are in Russian, but can be translated into English quite quickly. In 2022, we are planning to develop courses on graphic design, art-practice in painting, and fundamentals of painting and graphics.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the availability of the necessary musical instruments on the campus, recording studios, and a possibility to conclude an agreement with concert organisations on the basis of which students are able to have their performance practice. Ivan Uralov spoke of the necessity to conduct regular meetings to exchange opinions on the project, and his proposal was supported. Besides, the International Arts campus CEO Eric Zuckerman was invited to participate in conference ‘Science and Education in the Sphere of Arts’, at which the project of arts residence of the University will be presented.

As a result, the parties have agreed to sign a framework agreement on cooperation to include the basic cooperation points.