International students at VSUES: Gain knowledge, learn the language, stay in Russia

A traditional meeting with the heads of all the structural units of VSUES was held at the university's rectorate. The main topic of the event was training and adaptation of international students.

Today there are 396 international students studying at VSUES. Most of them are from the People's Republic of China, second or third are from Uzbekistan and Laos. There are representatives of the Republic of Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Congo.

Economics and management remain the most popular fields of study for foreign students. 256 students have chosen the School of International Business, Economics and Management at VSUES to pursue higher education in this field.

The refrain of the meeting was the issue of increasing the level of language education of foreign students. Yulia Konovalova, Director of the VSUES School of Pedagogy and Linguistics, PhD in Philology, put an emphasis on increasing the number of additional Russian language programs for foreign students. This will not only help remove the language barrier, but will also give an opportunity to better master the learning material.

Vice-rector for education and research, candidate of technical sciences Sergei Golikov stated the need to optimize educational processes and the system of interaction with foreign students, to look for new approaches and to build socio-cultural communication more actively.

Gennadii Lazarev, VSUES President, Doctor of Economics, Professor, noted that this work should be done constantly, from the first year, and the progress of foreign students should be strictly monitored:

— The quality of foreign students' knowledge is, primarily, the prestige of the university. The demand and popularity of our university depends on how well we teach our students," said the VSUES president.

Commenting on the results of the meeting, VSUES Rector, Doctor of Economics, Professor Tatiana Terenteva emphasized that the most important task of the VSUES teaching staff is to constantly improve the quality of education. This applies to international students as well as to Russian students.

— We work with foreign students the same way we work with Russian students, the only problem is that foreigners do not know Russian well enough. This prevents them from learning it fully," said Tatiana Terenteva. — We have every opportunity to give students a basic knowledge of the Russian language. It is not only about special programs, but also about joint events involving Russian and foreign students, the daily adaptation of foreign students to study, to a different rhythm and way of life.