Last week the Russian Cultural Centre in Dar es Salaam (United Republic of Tanzania) hosted an educational exhibition "Study in Russia". Representatives of such Russian universities as St. Petersburg State University, Higher School of Economics, Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Maikop State Technical University, Privolzhsky Research Medical University and Tula State University spoke to Tanzanian applicants.

Andrey Levonovich Avetisyan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the United Republic of Tanzania, attended the grand opening of the exhibition, and Alexey Bondaruk, Head of the Russian Cultural Centre in Dar es Salaam, in his speech to the Tanzanian applicants emphasized that scientific, educational and cultural cooperation between Russia and Tanzania will continue to strengthen and develop, and the number of training quotas in Russian universities allocated for Tanzanians by the Government of the Russian Federation will continue to grow annually.

Olga Gladkova, Director of the Institute of International Education, took part in the exhibition on behalf of TulSU. She, as well as other representatives of leading Russian universities, came to Dar es Salaam to present her university - to tell the applicants from Tanzania about the educational programmes and the departments and institutes implementing them, about the specifics of the training process and opportunities for academic mobility, about scientific activity and scholarships, about the campus infrastructure and bright student life. And, of course, about the Hero-City of Tula - the city of gunsmiths, samovars and gingerbread, the third museum capital of Russia, the birthplace of the greatest Leo Tolstoy - the city that has already become home for many foreign students of TulSU. Information materials in English and Swahili were prepared for the exhibition.

After the presentation block there was a stage of live communication between university representatives and Tanzanian applicants - the guys were actively interested in bachelor's and master's degree programmes implemented at TulSU, in particular, in mechanical engineering, civil engineering, power engineering and electrical engineering, economics, management, sociology, IT, chemistry, biotechnology and other fields.

On March,21 delegations from Russian universities demonstrated the benefits of Russian education to students from two secondary schools - Zanaki Secondary School and Jangwani Secondary School. 

After the presentation at Jangwani Secondary School, the representatives of Russian universities were approached by a final year student with the beautiful Tanzanian name Tula.

- I want to study in Russia and my dream is to study in Tula at Tula State University," she said. 

This is already the 6-th visit of TulSU representatives to the Russian Cultural Centre in Dar es Salaam and the 7-th participation in this educational exhibition. The result of systematic work was the increase of citizens of the United Republic of Tanzania in the total contingent of TulSU from 2 in 2021 to 23 in 2024. 

Text and photos by Olga Gladkova