On October 21-25, the traditional educational exhibition “RUSSIAN UNIVERSITIES – THE BEST CHOICE” was held in the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Hanoi.

It was organized by the Representative Office of Rossotrudnichestvo (The Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation) in Vietnam with the aim of popularizing Russian education.

Olesya Yevgenyevna Labadze, Vice-Rector for International Affairs and Project Activities, was delegated to the exhibition from Tula State University.

"Every day of my stay in Vietnam was filled with warm meetings and vivid impressions," she shared. "There was a sense that our Vietnamese colleagues were very happy with us and were interested in co-operation."

The opening ceremony of the exhibition took place on October 21 at the Russian House in Hanoi. It was honored with the presence of Vladimir Murashkin, Director of the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Hanoi; Yevgeniy Mitrofanov, Counsellor of the Russian Embassy in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, respresenative of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation; Le Tuan Anh, Head of the Department of Cooperation and Development of Hanoi State University, as well as representatives of 11 leading Russian educational institutions.

A big presentation of higher educational institutions for students and schoolchildren was held the same day.

Olesya Yevgenyevna offered them information materials about Tula State University in Vietnamese and English and talked to the children.

- The event was attended by about 70 young men and women, she said. – I introduced them to the educational programmes implemented by the university, told them about summer schools, the structure of TulSU, its campus and, of course, the hero-city Tula. The participants also learnt about the documents they need to apply for admission to our university. Communication was lively and productive. Many of them showed sincere interest in studying with us.

On 22 October, Olesya Yevgenyevna together with her colleagues visited the Chang Fu Specialised School for Gifted Children in Haiphong. The Vice-Rector presented the educational opportunities of Tula State University to the gathered schoolchildren, almost 200 of them.

Later, there was a meeting at the Russian Embassy in Vietnam, during which the parties discussed the quota system for applicants from Vietnam, including for programmes of additional professional education.

The next day, the Vice-Rector of TulSU took part in presentation events at the Le Hong Phong Special School for Talented Children in Nam Dinh. 200 schoolchildren assembled to listen to the guests from Russia – so distant but so close.

- It is very pleasant that Vietnamese children know about Tula as the birthplace of the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy,’ Olesya Yevgenyevna admitted. - Schoolchildren were fascinated and asked questions about Tula State University with pleasure. Such a lively dialogue certainly creates a warm, friendly atmosphere.

On 24 October, delegations of Russian universities met at the Ministry of Education and Training of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. It was attended by Nguyen Hai Thanh, Deputy Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Education and Training of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The parties discussed issues related to the quota campaign and implementation of exchange programmes.

On the same day, the Vice-Rector of TulSU took part in a press conference to the Vietnamese media. Vladimir Murashkin, Director of the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Hanoi, told about studying at leading Russian universities. Olesya Yevgenyevna Labadze, in her turn, introduced the pre-university training programme implemented by the Institute of International Education of TulSU and additional opportunities for international students.

On 25 October, there was a meeting with the Director of the Department of Partnership and Cooperation of Hanoi University of Science and Technology. They discussed issues related to the upcoming internship of Tula State University employees, implementation of exchange programmes in IT and biotechnology, joint applications for international grant competitions of the Russian Science Foundation and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

The background of the internship is as follows. On 18 October this year, the Rector of Tula State University, Oleg Aleksandrovich Kravchenko, received an official letter from the Deputy Dean of the School of Information and Communication Technologies at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Professor Huyinh Thi Thanh Binh.

In order to promote research and education cooperation between the two institutions, Vietnamese colleagues invited leading researchers from the Laboratory of Cognitive Technologies and Simulation Systems to join their research team and participate in an internship at the International Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence in the field of machine learning and machine pattern recognition.

The inviting party expressed confidence that the expertise of TulSU scientists will allow to bring the current projects of the School of Information and Communication Technologies to a higher level and give a start to further joint scientific research.

The internship will take place over a period of 10 days. It is scheduled to start on 5 December 2024.

But let's get back to the exhibition. On the last day of the exhibition, an expert session entitled ‘University Consortia in Russia and International Education Space: Practice and Prospects’ was held. Russian colleagues had an opportunity to meet and exchange opinions with representatives of Vietnamese universities - graduates of Russian universities, including Tula State University. Vice-Rector Labadze talked to Mai Nguyet Tuyet Hoa from the University of Journalism and Communications. They talked about the defence of her latest thesis at TulSU, interaction within the framework of exchange programmes and organisation of events in the direction of the Department of Journalism.

- The interest in educational co-operation between the Russian Federation and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is mutual. And I, a representative of Tula State University, was able to see it for myself on the hospitable Vietnamese land, - Olesya Yegenyevna emphasised. - Our educational organisation has been training Vietnamese citizens for decades. We have accumulated serious experience, which we are always ready to share. And, of course, it is important for us to get acquainted with the best practices of our friends. I am sure that co-operation with our Vietnamese colleagues will be successful and will bear fruit!

Tatyana Krikunkova