A resources center “House of the Volunteer 2020” will be established at South Ural State University. On the basis of the university, volunteers will be trained to hold international events– SCO and BRICS summits.
Creation of its own volunteer body became possible due to the fact that SUSU won the contest of youth projects organized by Federal Agency “Rosmolodezh” with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. The University was given a grant to create a site for training volunteers, as well as organizing and giving classes.
“South Ural State University will become a preparatory base for the summits. The volunteers of our university have experience in holding economic and political events; they participated in Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum, in St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and in a number of other international events. A separate volunteer body on the basis of the university is of great importance because we expect that will provide a large number of volunteers,” said Veronika Livonchik, Deputy Head of Extracurricular Activities Department of SUSU, and Coordinator of Volunteers in the Chelyabinsk Region for SCO and BRICS summits.
Coordination Center will be a conference room equipped with all necessary equipment for holding training classes, meetings and conferences. The workplaces for volunteer leaders will be organized here as well. Within the framework of the project, the English language courses will be given to volunteers, and the activities aimed at learning aspects of volunteer work – writing the minutes of an event, business ethics, etc. The courses will be available not only for SUSU students but the students of other universities of the region either.
“At the beginning of September, we will start with the training of team leaders – heads of the volunteer body. Until the end of 2018, we plan to train 100 people. In the future, we expect to increase the number of young people to be trained at the resources center “House of the Volunteer 2020”, up to 1000 people. Not only students of SUSU, but young people from all over the Chelyabinsk Region can take part in this project,” said Valeriya Zasova, Deputy Project Manager.
In addition, an event called “South Ural SCO model” will be held at SUSU in November, where students of Chelyabinsk universities will be able to model the procedure of holding summits and discuss urgent international issues. SUSU foreign students will be involved in order to make the event more close to reality.
“We provide students with a platform for discussions and set a specific topic on the basis of which they must formulate their own solutions, proposals on the issues of international cooperation related to the interests of young people. Speaking in general, all youth activities and extracurricular work of SUSU for the next few years are aimed at our participation in the general city, regional and all-Russian movement for the preparation for summits in the year 2020,” said Gennady Budanov, Deputy Head of SUSU Trade Union Committee.
These activities will be carried out by Extracurricular Activities Department and Trade Union Committee of SUSU. Vyacheslav Burmatov, Vice-Rector for Student Affairs, headed the supervision of the youth activity of the university, as well as the work of the trade union organization.
“This is a serious responsibility for me. I consider the issues related to the development of the university's youth policy to be a priority for me. I will try to bring their solution to a new level,” said Vice-Rector for Student Affairs.
In addition to projects on preparation for the summits, SUSU will be the organizer of several more major youth events. The University received a grant from “Rosmolodezh” for the student tournament “Ural Mountains”, in which athletes from all over the country will compete in certain sports: track and field, football, volleyball, mountain skiing and others. Association of Russian Student Sports Clubs will become a co-organizer. Also, the University together with the Regional Committee of Trade Unions of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and Student Coordination Council of the Ural Federal District and the Chelyabinsk Region organizes a meeting “Trade Unions of Students: Realities and Prospects”. Moreover, SUSU together with the regional headquarter of student labor unions provide a project for the organization of School of Press Services of headquarters of student labor groups of the Ural Federal District and the interregional competition “Student Leader of the Year”. Within the framework of youth projects, School of Young Leaders and “Scientific Fights” with the participation of Council of Young Scientists will also be organized among SUSU students.