The Rectors Forum of Russian and Chinese universities has taken place at the Lomonosov Moscow State University on July 5, 2016 as a part of the XVII session of the Russian-Chinese Commission for Humanitarian Cooperation. The discussion involved a wide range of issues of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the scientific and educational fields. Chinese universities would participate in the new global rankings, headquartered in Moscow, as well as in the implementation of academic exchanges, the development of youth intellectual competition system and so on.
Rector of the Moscow State University Victor Sadovnichiy began the opening ceremony with the following words: "This forum will go down in the history of relations between our countries. The implementation of the state strategy depends on the efficiency of our scientific and educational cooperation. The first contacts in the field of education and science between Russia and China refer to the beginning of the 17th century".
Currently, 200 Russian and 600 Chinese universities have established partnerships for strategically important areas for the two countries. They have concluded over 900 direct contracts with each other, have created 8 professional associations of Russian and Chinese universities. There are about 25 thousand Chinese students educating in Russian universities in present time, while in China there are 17 thousand Russian students. In the Moscow University just now fifteen hundred Chinese students are studying. It is planned, that the number of students would increase to 100 thousand in the future.
Now the Sh?nzhèn city is working on construction of joint University. It is a cooperative project of the Moscow State University and the Beijing University of Technology. The architectural foundation of future building is very similar to the main building of the Moscow State University. The completion is scheduled for the late 2018. The Chinese side has taken the initiative of creating the university, contribution of the MSU to the creation of the University will consist of providing educational programs and research and development.
"The most promising area of cooperation is the creation of the Association of Universities of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China. Communicating with Viktor Sadovnichiy, we understood how many joint projects can be realized, -- said the Chairman of The Peking University Council ?hu Shanglu. --The head of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the Chairman of the Chinese People's Republic Xi Jinping discussed the development of contacts between our two great countries paying special attention to education during the recent Russian President visit to Beijing. Complementary relations in the field of education and science are planned for the long term. Our universities will make a strong contribution to the prosperity of our peoples. We must act together to improve the competitiveness of our universities on the world stage".
The forum resulted in the Declaration on the Establishment of the Association of Universities of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, signed by the rector of the Moscow State University Victor Sadovnichy and the chairman of the Peking University Council ?hu Shanglu. In addition, agreements about the cooperation in various spheres of activity have been signed between the specialized educational institutions of Russia and China. Among them are medical and technical sciences, linguistics, public administration, education, agriculture and transport. Representatives of student sports organizations signed a memorandum of intent to the Russian-Chinese student festival of winter sports.
15 agreements in total were signed between universities and research and educational organizations of Russia and China.
"Relations between our countries have reached a new level due to the leaders of our countries, and they are a major strategic objective. Strengthen of direct contracts between Russian and Chinese universities is the path to success. The language education is the most important task of development: already in 2017 the Chinese language will be introduced in Unified State Exam", -- said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets.
The following rectors of Russian universities took part in the Forum: the rector of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Academician Victor Sadovnichy, acting President of the Russian Students Sport Union Sergey Seiranov, rector of the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University Petr Glybochko, rector of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University Anatoly Alexandrov, rrector of the Moscow State Pedagogical University Academician Alexey Semenov, rector of the Moscow State University of Railway Engineering Boris Levin, rector of the State University of Management Vladimir Stroyev, rector of the Kazan Federal University Ilshat Gafurov, rector of the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory Alexander Sokolov, a representative of the Moscow State University of Technologies and Management Razumovsky.
China universities were represented by the Chairman of Beijing University Council ?hu Shanglu, FUSC General Secretary Yang Likwo, spokesperson of the Harbin Medical University, the rector of the Harbin Institute of Technology ?hou Yü, rector of the Beijing Foreign Studies University professor P'eng Lung, chairman of the Central China Normal University Council Ma Min, rector of the Beijing Jiaotong University Ning Pin, chairman of the Jilin University Yang Chengping, Chairman of the Xi'an Jiaotong University ?hang Maitseng, rector of the Beijing University of Chinese medicine Hsü Anglung, chairman of the Beijing Normal University Liu ?h'uansheng, chairman of the Heihe University Council Cao Buyin and the representative of the Northeast agricultural University.
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