The Union State of Russia and Belarus: common education space

The Belarusian Education Days were held at the Business and Cultural Complex of the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow on 29-30 May. The two-day forum was attended by the heads of the universities of Minsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Brest, Nizhny Novgorod, Mogilev, Gomel. In total, more than 60 representatives of the leading higher education institutions of the two countries took part in this event.

Twelve cooperation agreements were signed, and the following events were also held: the meeting of the Business Council of the rectors of educational institutions of Belarus and Russia on the development of cooperation in education and science; the international scientific and practical conference "Russian and Belarusian Languages in the Context of Globalization" and the hands-on workshop "State and Prospects of Development of Educational Tourism of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation."

The forum started with the opening of a specialized exhibition of achievements of the Belarusian education system, reflecting the level of cooperation between Belarus and Russia in education and science.

Today the Union State carries out consistent and purposeful work to ensure equal education rights for citizens and to develop the common education space.

Seven Belarusian HEIs have signed agreements and cooperation agreements with 12 universities (more than 1,300 cooperation agreements in total). Belarusian State Agricultural Academy has concluded agreements with Volgograd State Agrarian University, Russian State Agrarian University - Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, and Nizhny Novgorod State Agricultural Academy.

The Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics has signed agreements with Moscow Aviation Institute and Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University named after R.E. Alekseev.

Last year, about 800 Belarusian teachers made educational visits to Russian universities, and about 800 Russian teachers visited Belarusian universities. Annually, about 1,000 Belarusian students come to Russian universities, and about 1,000 young Russians come to Belarus.

Belarus State University maintains close ties with Lomonosov Moscow State University.

BSU and MSU hold joint conferences and implement staff and student exchange programs. The most important thing was that last year a decision was made to open the double degree Master's program "History of the Belarusian Diaspora." Now Russian and Belarusian students will obtain the diplomas of MSU and BSU at the same time.

The heads of Belarusian and Russian HEIs made the presentations on the state of higher education, cooperation in personnel training, on the experience of mutually beneficial cooperation between universities, on the fulfillment of the innovative potential of universities of the two countries.

Of particular interest was the discussion of creation and implementation of joint educational programs that allow Belarus and Russia to consolidate their achievements in the field of innovative development of education, as well as improving the quality and effectiveness of practice-oriented training of specialists, deepening ties with employing organizations and the labor market.

Summing up the results of the Belarusian Education Days in Russia, their participants highly appreciated the discussions and expressed their intention to hold events of this format on a regular basis. The initiatives to establish the Association of Belarusian and Russian Higher Education Institutions and the Joint Council of Rectors were approved. This will make it possible to more effectively address issues of bilateral cooperation in education and science.

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