More than a thousand students from dozens of countries study at Tula State University. And not only study - they get to know Russia, socialise and make friends, cook national dishes, sing and dance. This was once again confirmed by the festival “We welcome all the flags!” - one of the brightest events of the university year. 

Pushkin's language

The festival tradition at TulSU is almost twenty years old, and international students have been studying at the university since 1962. At that time the first eight students from Bulgaria came to Tula Polytechnic University, they studied at the Mechanical Engineering Department. And in 1976 the university established a dean's office for work with international students. Today this work is carried out by the Institute of International Education of TulSU.

The popularity of Russian education keeps on growing: the largest university of the Tula region today has more than a thousand young people from seventy countries - CIS, Middle East and Africa, South and South-East Asia, North and Latin America, Europe.

Oleg Kravchenko, Rector of TulSU:

 - We do a lot of work to popularise Russian education and study at Tula State University. Our specialists regularly participate in Russian missions abroad, where they present our capabilities. A wide choice of specialities, modern campus and, of course, historical sights of Tula attract students from all over the world. Many people have heard about TulSU from their friends who have studied or are studying with us - and the feedback is always positive. 

Most international students live in dormitories together with Russian students - this is how they get the necessary language practice, as most classes are conducted in Russian. TulSU pays special attention to the study of our language and culture: students go to museums, celebrate traditional Russian holidays together with teachers, learn the rich history of Russia, get acquainted with works of art from different times. 

For the second year in a row, TulSU hosts the international student research and practice conference ‘Russian Language in the Eyes of Foreigners’. In 2024, representatives of eight Russian and one foreign university took part in it. ‘Arab and Russian culture: points of contact’, “Language and intercultural communication in tourism”, “African culture through dance”, “Adventures of a Frenchman in Russia” - these are some of the topics of the reports. 

Bawo Swaliho Sheku, Sierra Leone: 

- The official language of my country is English, and I started learning Russian from scratch when I came to Russia. The training at TulSU is good, so I learnt the basics quickly. But Russian is a very rich and complex language, so I still have a lot to learn. The best help in this is classical Russian literature. Our conference is dedicated to Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin`s 225th anniversary - he was a great writer, his works are a real textbook of the Russian language for us.

A holiday for everyone 

When studying Russian culture, international students are happy to share their own culture as well. The best way to get acquainted with foreign countries is through the kitchen - most Tulsa State University students are convinced of this. They gladly treat their neighbours in the dormitory with national dishes that they cook themselves. And once a year everyone can see and taste the gastronomic splendour - guests of the festival “We welcome all the flags!”, which has been held at the university since 2006.

Olga Gladkova, Director of the Institute of International Education of TulSU:

 - The guys start preparing for the festival almost a year in advance. They think over what they will cook, what they will surprise with, what costumes they will wear, what items they will perform at the concert. When a student first comes to us, he is told about the festival, and he is immediately immersed in the general process of preparation. It is very unifying, students from different countries communicate with each other, the common language for them is Russian, of course. 

At the festival, they proudly talk about their countries and always treat the guests with pleasure.

Each community, whose representatives study at TulSU, prepares a small exhibition of cultural and everyday life objects of their country. 

Some show a portrait of the leader of the state, others display religious items, while others have small traditional sculptures, coins and even money banknotes on their table.

Going from table to table, it is as if you are travelling around the world. But this is only the beginning of a colourful journey - then the big concert begins. Traditionally, at the beginning, students from different countries bring the flags of their countries to the stage. The colourful procession is greeted with applause and enthusiastic cheers. Several hours of music, songs, dances, poems and theatre performances lie ahead. There are no winners here, it`s rather the winners are all the participants of the festival.

In 2024, the forum-festival “We welcome all the flags!” was visited by high guests: representatives of the embassies of Angola, Tanzania, the Russian-African Youth Alliance, the federal project ‘Adventures of Foreigners in Russia’. All of them noted the high level of organisation of the holiday, its great importance in strengthening friendship and partnership of our country with other countries. And, of course, they were happy to participate in all the activities.

Dmitriy Litvinov

Photographs by Mikhail Gindin and Darya Yanchuk