International focus is a priority
In 2021, "international» hopes and plans of universities were realized despite the closed borders and campuses and travel restrictions both for students and scholars. The Amur State University continues to live a full-fledged international real-virtual mode of life and is currently prioritizing the international focus of its development. The good news was that international students of the AmSU, who could not enter Russia for more than a year due to the pandemic, were able to continue their full-time studies in the new academic year, settle in university dormitories and return to classrooms. Obviously, this process did not become widespread, and more than 70% of students continued to study remotely. The pandemic did not prevent the Amur State University from recruiting foreign citizens and activating previously unused channels to attract potential students. For the International Office of the University, this admission campaign has become a busy season of new recruiting practices — from online presentations on different platforms and languages, for different audiences and countries, to working with leads, electronic publications about the University in foreign languages, and virtual open days at international partner universities for attracting foreign graduates and postgraduates as recruiters. A new thing for the AmSU was the participation in the educational exhibitions RED EXPO DAY and Digital Uni Russian Club and joining the network partnership "Russian Exporting Universities». Applicants from the CIS countries submitted an unprecedented number of applications to the AmSU in the admission campaign of 2021. The University has recruited for new master's degree programs, including ones instructed in the English language. More than 350 international students from sixteen countries study at AmSU today. Most of them are Chinese citizens. This fact accounts for the location of the Amur State University in the city of Blagoveshchensk — a unique place near the Chinese state border. Twin cities, Russian Blagoveshchensk and Chinese Heihe, are separated by a natural obstacle, the Amur River. Next year, a cross-border bridge will unite these two cities.
AmSU also has students from Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Zambia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Congo, Morocco, Nepal, Syria, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Ecuador, Jamaica. Some of them study for free due to the Scholarship Program for International Students provided by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The range of educational programs offered to foreign applicants is reviewed annually. And the applicants' choice is changing as well. Five years ago the most popular major was Russian Philology programs, while today all ten departments of the AmSU have international students: from the Department of Design and Technology, the Department of Social Sciences to the Energy and Economics Departments. The applicants' interest is shifting towards engineering and IT programs. The only obstacle applicants might come across is their level of the Russian language. Therefore, in 2021, the Preparatory Department for International Students of the AmSU launched the course of the Russian language for students majoring in engineering in addition to ones in humanitarian and economic fields. However, the most popular areas of training for the Chinese students are still the Russian language programs. For many of them, Russian becomes the first step of studying in the University, and then, they apply both for graduate and postgraduate programs available at the University. There are quite a lot of Chinese PhD students studying in the field of Linguistics and Literary Studies, almost all of them have passed through the school at the Amur State University and are graduates of at least the Master's degree program. The areas of training related to fine arts and design are also popular. In June 2021, 27 students from China successfully defended their master's theses in the field of Pedagogical Education, all of them majored the Fine Arts. This was the first group of students in the history of the AmSU who chose this major. Today, the international service of the AmSU is engaged in all aspects of the university's activities that contain a «foreign» or «international» component: the organization of recruitment and support of the educational process for foreign citizens, joint research and educational projects with international partners, as well as academic exchange programs for students and academics, etc. International students address the International Office a variety of questions to solve, including their everyday day life and visa issues. In 2020, most of our students went home for the winter holidays and then could not return to study here because of the pandemic. Some of the students stayed in Russia and continued to study. And at the end of 2021, new residents from different parts of the world began to come to the campus. In the new conditions, educational institutions, including the AmSU, had to search for other formats of work with students and use digital resources. A lot of difficulties were associated with logistics and organizational issues. For example, we had to solve how to grant a degree certificate to graduates who remained abroad, what to do with personal belongings in the rooms of students who could not return to Russia due to the pandemic, and how to get a QR code here if one was vaccinated in in a foreign country. Like other universities, we are actively gaining experience in arranging classes in new modes. Evidently, a foreign freshman needs effective guidance to find the required educational recourses. Therefore, the University's instructors and international service are in touch with their students round the clock.
In 2021, "international» hopes and plans of universities were realized despite the closed borders and campuses and travel restrictions both for students and scholars. The Amur State University continues to live a full-fledged international real-virtual mode of life and is currently prioritizing the international focus of its development. The good news was that international students of the AmSU, who could not enter Russia for more than a year due to the pandemic, were able to continue their full-time studies in the new academic year, settle in university dormitories and return to classrooms. Obviously, this process did not become widespread, and more than 70% of students continued to study remotely. The pandemic did not prevent the Amur State University from recruiting foreign citizens and activating previously unused channels to attract potential students. For the International Office of the University, this admission campaign has become a busy season of new recruiting practices — from online presentations on different platforms and languages, for different audiences and countries, to working with leads, electronic publications about the University in foreign languages, and virtual open days at international partner universities for attracting foreign graduates and postgraduates as recruiters. A new thing for the AmSU was the participation in the educational exhibitions RED EXPO DAY and Digital Uni Russian Club and joining the network partnership "Russian Exporting Universities». Applicants from the CIS countries submitted an unprecedented number of applications to the AmSU in the admission campaign of 2021. The University has recruited for new master's degree programs, including ones instructed in the English language. More than 350 international students from sixteen countries study at AmSU today. Most of them are Chinese citizens. This fact accounts for the location of the Amur State University in the city of Blagoveshchensk — a unique place near the Chinese state border. Twin cities, Russian Blagoveshchensk and Chinese Heihe, are separated by a natural obstacle, the Amur River. Next year, a cross-border bridge will unite these two cities.
AmSU also has students from Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Zambia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Congo, Morocco, Nepal, Syria, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Ecuador, Jamaica. Some of them study for free due to the Scholarship Program for International Students provided by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The range of educational programs offered to foreign applicants is reviewed annually. And the applicants' choice is changing as well. Five years ago the most popular major was Russian Philology programs, while today all ten departments of the AmSU have international students: from the Department of Design and Technology, the Department of Social Sciences to the Energy and Economics Departments. The applicants' interest is shifting towards engineering and IT programs. The only obstacle applicants might come across is their level of the Russian language. Therefore, in 2021, the Preparatory Department for International Students of the AmSU launched the course of the Russian language for students majoring in engineering in addition to ones in humanitarian and economic fields. However, the most popular areas of training for the Chinese students are still the Russian language programs. For many of them, Russian becomes the first step of studying in the University, and then, they apply both for graduate and postgraduate programs available at the University. There are quite a lot of Chinese PhD students studying in the field of Linguistics and Literary Studies, almost all of them have passed through the school at the Amur State University and are graduates of at least the Master's degree program. The areas of training related to fine arts and design are also popular. In June 2021, 27 students from China successfully defended their master's theses in the field of Pedagogical Education, all of them majored the Fine Arts. This was the first group of students in the history of the AmSU who chose this major. Today, the international service of the AmSU is engaged in all aspects of the university's activities that contain a «foreign» or «international» component: the organization of recruitment and support of the educational process for foreign citizens, joint research and educational projects with international partners, as well as academic exchange programs for students and academics, etc. International students address the International Office a variety of questions to solve, including their everyday day life and visa issues. In 2020, most of our students went home for the winter holidays and then could not return to study here because of the pandemic. Some of the students stayed in Russia and continued to study. And at the end of 2021, new residents from different parts of the world began to come to the campus. In the new conditions, educational institutions, including the AmSU, had to search for other formats of work with students and use digital resources. A lot of difficulties were associated with logistics and organizational issues. For example, we had to solve how to grant a degree certificate to graduates who remained abroad, what to do with personal belongings in the rooms of students who could not return to Russia due to the pandemic, and how to get a QR code here if one was vaccinated in in a foreign country. Like other universities, we are actively gaining experience in arranging classes in new modes. Evidently, a foreign freshman needs effective guidance to find the required educational recourses. Therefore, the University's instructors and international service are in touch with their students round the clock.
In 2021, "international» hopes and plans of universities were realized despite the closed borders and campuses and travel restrictions both for students and scholars. The Amur State University continues to live a full-fledged international real-virtual mode of life and is currently prioritizing the international focus of its development. The good news was that international students of the AmSU, who could not enter Russia for more than a year due to the pandemic, were able to continue their full-time studies in the new academic year, settle in university dormitories and return to classrooms. Obviously, this process did not become widespread, and more than 70% of students continued to study remotely. The pandemic did not prevent the Amur State University from recruiting foreign citizens and activating previously unused channels to attract potential students. For the International Office of the University, this admission campaign has become a busy season of new recruiting practices — from online presentations on different platforms and languages, for different audiences and countries, to working with leads, electronic publications about the University in foreign languages, and virtual open days at international partner universities for attracting foreign graduates and postgraduates as recruiters. A new thing for the AmSU was the participation in the educational exhibitions RED EXPO DAY and Digital Uni Russian Club and joining the network partnership "Russian Exporting Universities». Applicants from the CIS countries submitted an unprecedented number of applications to the AmSU in the admission campaign of 2021. The University has recruited for new master's degree programs, including ones instructed in the English language. More than 350 international students from sixteen countries study at AmSU today. Most of them are Chinese citizens. This fact accounts for the location of the Amur State University in the city of Blagoveshchensk — a unique place near the Chinese state border. Twin cities, Russian Blagoveshchensk and Chinese Heihe, are separated by a natural obstacle, the Amur River. Next year, a cross-border bridge will unite these two cities.
In 2021, the most important event for the AmSU was participation in the Strategic Academic Leadership Program "Priority 2030". The Amur State University was selected among the candidates for Program funding.
The University, located in the border city filled with student youth, has adopted an international vector of development as a guideline for the next ten years. The positioning of the AmSU as a Far Eastern research and educational outpost of geopolitical importance on the Sino-Russian border involves the international component in all strategic projects of the Program, and the project "Russia and China: Dialogue of Cultures — the foundation of the future» is an international collaboration with the Chinese partners. The integration of a new dimension into the University's development program also considers our local peculiarities. The university has been cooperating with foreign universities for more than 30 years. It has gained a wealth of experience in interacting with Chinese partners in the humanities and science. Yet, it has been engaged in targeted student recruitment and deliberate internationalization only for the last four years. The development of the Amur State University, as well as for other Far Eastern universities, is limited by the lack of a modern campus, innovative infrastructure, technology transfer mechanisms, and the outflow of young people from the Far East of Russia. However, professional experience, scientific potential, ambitions and energy of the University team, perseverance and interest of the l eadership and government of the Amur Region give hope for implementing the forethought projects in the near future. In the long term, the Amur State University plans to expand exchange programs and develop network educational and research projects in collaboration with foreign partners. A high level of language competencies of students and academics is an integral part of such projects.
The University, located in the border city filled with student youth, has adopted an international vector of development as a guideline for the next ten years. The positioning of the AmSU as a Far Eastern research and educational outpost of geopolitical importance on the Sino-Russian border involves the international component in all strategic projects of the Program, and the project "Russia and China: Dialogue of Cultures — the foundation of the future» is an international collaboration with the Chinese partners. The integration of a new dimension into the University's development program also considers our local peculiarities. The university has been cooperating with foreign universities for more than 30 years. It has gained a wealth of experience in interacting with Chinese partners in the humanities and science. Yet, it has been engaged in targeted student recruitment and deliberate internationalization only for the last four years. The development of the Amur State University, as well as for other Far Eastern universities, is limited by the lack of a modern campus, innovative infrastructure, technology transfer mechanisms, and the outflow of young people from the Far East of Russia. However, professional experience, scientific potential, ambitions and energy of the University team, perseverance and interest of the l eadership and government of the Amur Region give hope for implementing the forethought projects in the near future. In the long term, the Amur State University plans to expand exchange programs and develop network educational and research projects in collaboration with foreign partners. A high level of language competencies of students and academics is an integral part of such projects.
Full integration into the international landscape will be long a journey for the AmSU. However we have already taken the first step on the way of a thousand Li.
Thus, the University management initiated language training courses for young scientists and staff. The quality of professional and language training of the AmSU international students is also the focus of attention. In 2020–2021, the University held two international contests for the first time. Those were the contests in mathematics and Russian as a foreign language. We also launched free preprofessional courses for applicants. In 2022, this experience will grow. The plans include a phased internationalization of all processes of university life. Full-fledged internationalization is aimed at improving the quality of education and research. In 2022, for regional universities that seek to promote their brands and increase the number of foreign students but lack budget to make significant changes in campuses, it will be important to promote their educational programs in an online format. Another trend will reflect the competition among Russian universities for international students who are willing to obtain a degree in Russia at the expense of the Government scholarship. The use of a variety of digital platforms, marketing resources, participation in online exhibitions and networking universities partnership — these tools will be the main attractors to universities. The Amur State University is prepared for such challenges and for broadening its cooperation.
Natalia Royba,
Head of the International Office; Candidate of Sciences in Philology, Associate Professor, Department of Translation and Intercultural Communication, Amur State University Royba Natalia has been employed at the Amur State University since 1997. In 2005 graduated from the PhD program in German languages at the Far Eastern National University. She has been heading the International Office of the Amur State University since 2015. Her research and professional interests include political discourse language, culture and cognition, and Sino-Russian relations.
Head of the International Office; Candidate of Sciences in Philology, Associate Professor, Department of Translation and Intercultural Communication, Amur State University Royba Natalia has been employed at the Amur State University since 1997. In 2005 graduated from the PhD program in German languages at the Far Eastern National University. She has been heading the International Office of the Amur State University since 2015. Her research and professional interests include political discourse language, culture and cognition, and Sino-Russian relations.