Cooperation strategy in area of Russian language teaching. Naberezhnye Chelny State Pedagogical University signs a number of cooperation agreements with Tunisian universities

Tunisia is the only country in North Africa where the Russian language has an
official status of a second language in the system of school education. The teaching
of the great and mighty Russian language started in 1976 The main institution in
the field of the Russian language teaching is Higher Institute of Languages of
Tunis. The Russian language is also taught at Higher Institute of Tourism of Tunis.
Henceforth, Naberezhnye Chelny State Pedagogical University has become an
official partner of these universities regarding the Russian language teaching.
The Rector of Naberezhnye Chelny State Pedagogical University Alfinur
Galiakberova signed a number of cooperation agreements with the higher
educational establishments of Tunisia. The Memorandum of mutual understanding
has been signed there and the university authorities held the negotiations with the
Director of the Tunisian university regarding the prospects of further cooperation.
“The professors of our university have been working for two weeks with the
students and staff of Higher Institute of Languages of Tunis. We managed to meet
with the course participants; we held a round table discussion with the staff of the
Department of Russian Language and Literature and gave a presentation about
our university,” told Alfinur Galiakberova.
The cooperation agreement has been signed between Naberezhnye Chelny State
Pedagogical University and the Russian House. At the meeting, the parties
discussed the cooperation prospects including the joint educational programs,
student exchange programs and joint cultural events.
“Special attention will be focused on the promotion of the Russian language
among Tunisian youth. We are sure that our cooperation will open up new
opportunities,’ noted Alfinur Galiakberova.
The Head of the Russian House in Tunisia Yuri Zaitsev is sure that this
cooperation will become the basis for a long-term, fruitful partnership. “We are
happy to start walking this path with NCSPU; we hope that our joint efforts will
bring significant results,” claimed Yuri Zaitsev.
Naberezhnye Chelny State Pedagogical University signed a cooperation agreement
with University of Carthage. The agreement provides for the internships. This will
allow the students to share experience and knowledge, deepen their professional
skills and get familiar with the educational systems of the two countries.
The Rector of Carthage University Nadia Mzoughi hopes that the cooperation will
be fruitful and the parties will implement all the planned projects; she also
highlighted the importance of an academic exchange between Tunisia and Russia.

The Most important part of the negotiations was the meeting with Alexander
Zolotov, the Ambassador and Plenipotentiary of RF in Tunisia. He warmly met the
delegation from Naberezhnye Chelny State Pedagogical University. NCSPU
Rector Alfinur Galiakberova and her advisor Zhamilya Galagudina summarized
the results of the courses.
“Nearly 300 Tunisians attended the courses and the events. The locations had
been identified earlier: Higher Institute of Languages of Tunis, Higher Institute of
Tourism and the Russian House. We also discussed our cooperation prospects. It
concerns the Russian language courses, methodological support and so on,” said
Lenar Galiev, the Head of NCSPU Department of International Relations.
“I expressed my gratitude to the RF Embassy in Tunisia, to the head of the Russian
House – Yuri Zaitsev for his help. We managed to meet with Aidar Aganin, the
Ambassador and Plenipotentiary of RF in Libya and the first ministerial counselor
Eldar Yafarov. We discussed the prospects of the building up of international ties
between Libya and Russia. It gives us an excellent opportunity to broaden our
horizons and contribute a lot in the development of the educational programs,”
noted Alfinur Galiakberova.
The representatives of Naberezhnye Chelny State Pedagogical University agreed to
provide methodological help to the teachers of Russian as a second language in
Tunisia and outlined the steps in this area.