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Two Director-Generals and five Department Chiefs have made up the delegation.
The main goal of their visit is to discuss prospects of cooperation and of launching a number of joint EU-Russian educational programs in Astrakhan Region. According to Dr. Olga Egorova, Director of ASU’s Institute of Business Language & Professional Communications, “if such issues are solved successfully, Astrakhan will become Russia’s second largest site (after St.-Petersburg) for such programs. At the European educational scene, Astrakhan State University is regarded as a promising innovative university that has a great potential to train specialists in languages”.
During the meeting with ASU’s top managers, the members of the delegation have discussed a joint educational program “Astrakhan Region - European Commission & European Parliament”. This program (a Master’s course or a language high school) is intended for students with very good knowledge of a foreign language. Its graduates shall be granted not only a diploma, but also an official accreditation of the EU and of the European Commission in Interpretation.
The EU high guests have been told a lot about the main fields of ASU’s activities: R & D, international cooperation, and educational activities. Dr. Marco Benedetti, Director General of DG Interpretation, pointed out that he is interested in cooperating with ASU, as a wide range of both European and Eastern languages are taught at ASU at a high level. Dr. Olga Cosmidou, Director General for Interpretation and Conferences, added that Astrakhan Region’s geographical position makes it easier to contact native speakers of Eastern languages, which will certainly have a good effect on the results of studying. Dr. Alexander Lunyov, Rector of ASU, agreed with her; he said that Astrakhan Region’s economic needs are the main factor to have extended the range of languages that are taught at ASU.
The EU guests have been told about ASU’s linguistic and interpretation programs; they have met the staff and the students of ASU’s Department of Foreign Languages, and they have held a number of special meetings with the top managers of our University.
Text by ASU’s Innovative Laboratory of Information Linguistics
Photos by ASU’s TV Media Center
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