MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) is set to open Russian language learning centers on the islands of Guam and Fiji, the University’s President Sergei Ivanets said Thursday at the Third APEC Conference on Cooperation in Higher Education.
“The expansion of scientific, research and educational cooperation remains a priority for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and internationalization plays a key role in this cooperation,” said Ivanets. “In the framework of such cooperation, our university is set to open Russian language learning centers for the local populations of Guam and Fiji. Both sides have expressed an interest and we are currently in negotiations with the local authorities. We expect to sign the necessary agreements this year.”
Similar centers are already operating in China and the students tend to apply to study at FEFU afterwards.
The president also added that the university encourages exchange programs with educational establishments within the Asia-Pacific region. Since the start of the conference, an agreement on a student exchange program has been signed with one of the South Korean universities.
Ivanets also added that the number of foreign students who had enrolled at FEFU this year has doubled from 600 to 1,200. The administration of the university therefore hopes the number will increase to 7,500 by 2019, or a total of 25 per cent of the total number of students.
The Third APEC Conference on Cooperation in Higher Education opened on Thursday on Vladivostok’s Russky Island. Delegations from the US, Australia, Brunei, Japan, China, South Korea, The Philippines, Bangladesh, Peru and Vietnam are set to discuss further cooperation in education within the Asia-Pacific Region.
The first two conferences were also held in Vladivostok, in 2012 and 2013. The results of the first meeting were then passed to the heads of the states for further discussion at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit and were documented in the final declaration of the meeting.
The second conference set forward the aims and practical implementation for all the projects documented in the above declaration.
