The African Initiative: "Africa is one of our priorities": Rector of St Petersburg University on education export, cooperation with African scholars, and working with private businesses

The USSR was renowned for its cooperation with African states in science and education. People who graduated from Soviet universities in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are now holding top government positions in their countries. How does education export affect the development of Russia-Africa relations at the political level? 

I know this first-hand. A former doctoral student of mine is currently the Minister of Education in one African country. One of my classmates is currently the Ambassador of another African country to Russia. 

In my life, I have known young people from different parts of the world, including Africa. In Soviet times, about 20 higher education institutes were established in the country. Thousands of people from Africa came to the USSR to study. At present, about one hundred students from 23 countries of the African continent are enrolled in academic programmes at St Petersburg University — out of a total of 1,000 international students per year. This is a very small number. Indeed, we give priority to applicants from friendly countries. However, we also have students from America, who are enrolled in the University’s Online School. We cannot refuse these applicants. They want to receive education in Russian, and they want to preserve and support traditional values. We would never deny such people a quality education, because their attitudes and feelings towards our education, our language, and our culture are much more important than the country they come from. 

As for the University’s presence in Africa, last year, in collaboration with the Modern Group JSC, we opened a branch of St Petersburg University in Cairo, Egypt. At the request of our Egyptian colleagues, we will assist in training highly qualified personnel for the region. Over 400 students have already started their studies. Next year, I think, there will be a thousand, and in the long view — several thousand students. 

Currently, the University branch in Cairo offers three academic programmes: "General Medicine", "Dental Medicine", and "Pharmacy". In future, we plan to open a bachelor’s programme in nursing; a master’s programme in artificial intelligence; and a specialist’s programme in physiotherapy. 

We are discussing and negotiating the details of establishing a branch in Nigeria. Recently, I have had meetings with ambassadors and ministers of education from at least five African countries. We also plan to open representative offices of St Petersburg University in 11 countries overseas. Almost all of them are in Africa. 

We are training teachers of the Russian language in Africa. We are confident that this approach will enable us to expand the base of applicants, because at the moment we are limited by the number of qualified teachers. We have been actively developing our online learning programmes. Currently, about 27,000 African citizens from 50 countries are enrolled in online courses developed by St Petersburg University. 

These are the reasons why Africa is one of our priorities. We understand that although African countries are formally and legally independent from their colonial rulers, de facto they still dependent on them. We follow the principle defined by the President of the Russian Federation and, incidentally, the most prominent alumnus of St Petersburg University — Vladimir Putin. The principle is to help. I should note that this is in line with the traditional Russian mentality. We are willing to help, but we do not tolerate being ordered around. In my opinion, a freedom-loving person is one who is willing to listen to suggestions, comments, or criticism, but would not blindly follow the instructions of others, and would never follow the "guidance" of those who, not so long ago, inflicted harm on our country and is continuing to cause harm to other countries across the globe. African states must gain real independence, and St Petersburg University is willing to help in any way possible. 

During my meetings with ambassadors of African countries, I repeatedly spoke about the opportunities available at the University, and in a wider context than educational resources. For example, St Petersburg University developed the online voting system "CryptoVeche", based on distributed ledger technology. We have provided free access to this secure electronic voting system to more than 140 organisations in Russia. The system ensures the application security. The voting results are impossible to falsify because there is no owner of the information, everyone has the right of access. 

It would be great if African countries could use this system for voting, for canvassing popular opinions in a municipality, or for voting in elections. We are often asked: ‘What are the conditions of use?’ The application belongs to the Russian Federation; the software system is included in the Unified Register of Russian Software. If it belonged to the University, we would just donate it. We will gladly give access to the system to our African friends. Moreover, we are waiting for suggestions on what we need to do to make our relations more productive and help Africa gain real economic and political independence. 

At the press conference in the Russian News Agency TASS, we talked about the St Petersburg University Online School. In the Sahel region countries, many people are affected by power shortages and poor Internet connectivity. Does St Petersburg University plan to open branches in the region? 

To establish a branch, say, in the Sahel region, where we now have good friends, there should be a request: those who are interested in it have to take the initiative. You would not open a branch on a whim, would you? If the Ministry of Science and Education of a country is interested in opening a branch of St Petersburg University, they write a letter; then, we hold a videoconference or visit them and discuss all the necessary details and plan our joint work. 

That is how it works. There needs to be someone who would say, "We are ready". Hence, if you write about it, there will be people who will say they really need it. The University will not ignore such a request. St Petersburg University has partners in 85 countries, with 26 of them being in Africa. These include: Zimbabwe; South Africa; Kenya; Algeria; Niger; Gambia; Tunisia; Senegal; Zambia; Mauritius; Burkina Faso; Egypt; Mali; Tanzania; Ethiopia; Angola; Algeria; Mozambique; Togo; Congo; Somalia; Uganda; the Central African Republic; Botswana; and Equatorial Guinea. 

For instance, in Egypt, it worked as follows: St Petersburg University has a Russian Language Centre in Cairo; and we are actively communicating with Egyptian universities. We were approached by representatives of the Modern Group JSC, a company specialising in providing services in education, the pharmaceutical industry and construction. Together, we implemented this major project. I realise that in the countries we are talking about, there may not be such a prosperous company as the Modern Group JSC in Egypt. Still, there are Russian companies working there that can help. Perhaps on the premises of these Russian enterprises, we could open a branch or implement other projects, if the state provided some additional space or premises to the company. 

Furthermore, if the company is engaged in a certain type of activity, why not open a school, a university, or a technical school — or perhaps all three institutions to provide education and training in this field. I will give you an example to illustrate my point. St Petersburg University offers the academic programmes: Organisation of Tourist Activities (with Advanced Study of the Chinese Language) and "Tourism Management (with Advanced Study of the Thai Language)". The Councils of these academic programmes include representatives of tourism industry. These are people who have hands-on experience and clear understanding of what students should be taught and what should be included in the standard of the academic programme. They can also recommend relevant literature and information sources. 

I am proud that Chinese literature and art are taught at St Petersburg University and that Chinese people are enrolled in these programmes. If young people from China come to us to study Chinese literature and art, it means that we are good. 

We need new academic programmes in African Studies that are designed together with our partners and that fully meet their requirements. My task as Rector is to unite and interest people, and make sure that we complete this task at the highest possible level. 

What models are applied by St Petersburg University for exporting education to African countries? 

We follow the traditional models, but there are also some innovations. The traditional ones include opening branches and representative offices, which I have already mentioned. 

Opening representative offices in African countries are worthy efforts. Given that the number of our colleagues travelling to Africa is growing, I am certain that the number of face-to-face events will also increase. The most essential thing that we need for establishing a representative office in Africa is a place — small premises, or at least a small office and a classroom where we can gather the people who will start this work. 

Next on the education export list are Russian Language Centres. St Petersburg University has Russian Language Centres in overseas countries, where we hold Russian as a foreign language classes and Olympiads, and professional development courses for Russian language teachers. In 2023, the University, together with the support of the Russkiy Mir Foundation, launched a professional development course for 50 Russian language teachers from 14 African countries, including South Africa. Upon completion of the programme, the trainees were awarded St Petersburg University certificates for teachers of Russian as a foreign language. The Russian language Centres created by St Petersburg University are not just an opportunity for Africans to learn Russian. They help to attract talented international applicants to Russian universities and recruit qualified specialists from Africa with the knowledge of the Russian language for further work related to Russia. 

Another form of education export is the creation of joint academic programmes. We do not want people to leave Africa. It is important that we provide them with quality education. This will enable them to stay in their country and contribute to its development. Let them study wherever they want or stay in their own country and continue to be interested in the Russian language. We are doing similar work in the regions of the Russian Federation. In fact, the problems of migrants from Africa and from the Russian regions are very much alike. People leave Russia’s regions because the standards of living in Moscow and St Petersburg are higher. 

Currently, St Petersburg University has over 1,600 long-term cooperation agreements with employers in the Russia Federation and overseas. Over 800 of them are overseas organisations and agencies, of which more than 600 are international universities. Fourteen of them are in the African states. We need African universities to be willing to train their students at St Petersburg University within the framework of joint academic programmes. In this case, they will keep their graduates for themselves. 

I am convinced that education export is a very difficult task that requires a comprehensive approach and selection of the most effective model of cooperation for each particular case and project. We need not limit ourselves to agreements with the state agencies or to joint online academic programmes, when the best of both approaches can be used to build the most suitable format of cooperation. 

How, in your opinion, academic mobility and particularly teachers’ exchange programmes can improve the quality of cooperation in education between Russia and Africa? Does St Petersburg University implement such programmes? 

In my opinion, exchange programmes can solve fewer issues than a full course of study. What is the purpose of our lecturer going there? Most likely — to teach. The purpose of a lecturer from Africa coming here is to learn. Here again, setting the right priorities is one of the most important steps. For this, we need African countries to formulate a request. Then together, we will decide how to fulfil it in the most effective way.

You need to understand: only an integrated approach can produce tangible results. For instance, a rector is approached by a university professor saying: "I have an opportunity to organise a visit of a lecturer from Senegal." Good. We need a Senegalese lecturer of physical education and sports, say, football. What is no less important, however, for the development of our sports industry — and maybe even more important — is to talk to the Minister of Economic Development of the country, who will define the most relevant areas of cooperation and specify what is more important right now — to focus on geology, mechanical engineering, IT, or on history and football. 

Here, at St Petersburg University, we are open to meeting any challenges and finding solutions together with partner countries. We must and will help, this is our mission. 

Could you please share what new projects St Petersburg University is planning to implement in Africa? 

You know, new projects are usually born when someone suggests trying something fundamentally new or speaks out what is needed. For example, the St Petersburg University Online School project, which enables Russian-speaking students from any country across the globe to receive a well-rounded school education, began when I had people sitting across from me who said they could not finish school in Russian. They did not offer any solution, but we heard their request and did our best to solve it.

St Petersburg University is becoming a pioneer in many areas. In 2014, we created the St Petersburg University Research Park and opened access to research facilities for everyone. Later, free access was closed for private institutions — they can use the Research Park facilities under cost-reimbursement contracts. We were allocated funds for the University scholars to conduct scientific research at the University. And what did we do? We announced a grant competition and allowed all the researchers around the world to participate in it. This is an example of a healthy competition in science and research, which, I am certain, benefits everyone. 

African scholars can participate in these competitions. I wish we would come to Africa not only as an institution of higher education, because the University is also a community of experts and researchers. We can bring to the table our professional expertise and research opportunities. We have the potential and capacity. Friends need to share. We have developed different formats and models of cooperation and we can develop more.