Russia and Africa: the restoration of relations in the field of higher education

The Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) is working on a program of cooperation with African universities with the support of the Government of Moscow, within the framework Russian culture and language will be taught on the continent.

RUDN will also provide scholarships for the study of mathematics and sciences to students of universities in nine African countries (Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Gambia, Nigeria and Ghana).

“We are currently working on a program of cooperation with several leading universities,” said Masamba Kah, adviser to Larisa Efremova, Vice-Rector for international affairs at RUDN.
The program includes Russian language classes and specialised profile classes, including mathematics, physics, and chemistry; therefore, Russian is the basis for more extensive cooperation in the field of education in general.

According to Kakh, RUDN remains the largest educational and recruiting center for African students in Russia. In fact, it was created to provide high-quality educational services to representatives of countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

“The plans are not only to increase the numbers of African students, but also the quality of enrolling students through mechanism of RUDN  University Olympiads and strategic recruitment within national development plans of our partner countries,” the adviser added.

Russian is one of the least common foreign languages ​​in Africa. According to the Russian government there are only 100,000 people speakers. Nevertheless, it is taught in a number of South African universities and in some private colleges across the continent training future diplomats planning to work in Russia.

December 2018, Copperbelt University (Zambia) signed an agreement with the RUDN University to become the regional center for teaching Russian.