An international conference and exhibition of the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs NAFSA 2018 took place in the USA. Russia was represented by leading universities of the country, participants of Project 5-100, South Ural State University among them. Within the event, domestic universities were given the opportunity to establish relations with universities of Northern America, as well as with universities of Europe and Asia.
This year, the main topic of the conference for out university was extension of interuniversity connections in the sphere of IT technology. Head of the International Mobility Office, Tatiana Vasilyeva, participated in sessions organized by the Project Office of Project 5-100.
“Participation in the conference promotes extension of international cooperation and increases recognizability of the university. Such meetings allows for establishing close contacts between universities. This year we discussed participation of international students in the conference dedicated to digital technology which is to be held at SUSU in November; academic mobility of students and teaching staff; implementation of joint research projects; organization and participation in summer schools; and participation of Russian scientists and students in international grant programs, such as Erasmus plus grants,” said Tatiana Vasilyeva.
In the course of the conference, representatives of universities from different countries discussed possibilities for cooperation with the SUSU representative. Contacts were established in the sphere of IT engineering with several higher education institutions of Italia, as well as with universities of France, Czech Republic, Great Britain, India, and USA. The most prospective can be considered the cooperation with the Polytechnic University of Turin, which is placed the 33rd in the world according to QS ranking in the sphere of engineering technology. Presently, business correspondence is being held; SUSU is invited to the Partner Days in September. Cooperation in the sphere of humanities was discussed in details with professors and international affairs divisions of the University of Siena, the University Of Bergamo, and the University of Milan.
Also, negotiations were held with representatives of Japanese and German universities. Memorandums on cooperation were signed with the Japanese Nanzan University, interested in academic exchanges, with the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), and the Clausthal University of Technology (Germany), which offered SUSU to take part in an international management program for students.
During the forum, meetings were also held with representatives of higher education institutions of China, among which the Beijing Language and Culture University, Dalian University of Technology, and the Ningbo University. Also, the possibility of cooperation was discussed with Indian universities which have scientific and educational programs in the sphere of industrial Internet of Things.