St Petersburg University has held a meeting between Nikolay Kropachev and President of Peking University Hao Ping.  

The visit began with a tour of the historic building of the Twelve Collegia. Professor Kropachev showed the distinguished guest the Dmitri Mendeleev Museum Archive, the Petrovsky Hall, and the Modern Sculpture Park. He told Mr Hao Ping about the University’s places of interest. While in the Assembly Hall, Mr Hao Ping said that not so long ago all Chinese citizens had watched the broadcast of the ceremony of awarding an honorary doctorate of St Petersburg University to the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping. He also noted that the whole world knows about that ceremony. And he is very happy to be at this place.

During the meeting, they also talked about the fact that, despite the beauty and rich past, historical buildings today limit the development of modern education and science. Nikolay Kropachev noted that the situation can change fundamentally only after the University has a modern integrated campus.

In 1915, by order of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, a special commission was created to assess the suitability of the University buildings for the educational process and scientific research. And even then, more than a century ago, the commission concluded that our buildings were not suitable for this. It was decided to build a new campus, but this project, as you know, did not get a chance to be implemented due to the revolution. Today we are on the verge of a new milestone in the history of the University – the creation of a modern integrated campus, the question of the construction of which has been relevant for a whole century.
Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University

Mr Hao Ping thanked his hosts for the hearty welcome and said that Peking University is also preparing to expand its campus. According to him, the creation of modern complexes and infrastructure for universities is a global practice. He also noted that the university is interested in creating joint research centres in an extensive range of subject areas. These include: Russian studies; mathematics; IT and artificial intelligence technology; economics; and law. Chinese colleagues would like to increase student and teacher mobility and open joint academic programmes, including doctoral ones. Mr Hao Ping drew attention to the fact that Peking University is ready to send its students to attend summer mathematics schools next year.

Your University is widely known and highly respected in China. We rejoice at your success with you and congratulate you on the new stage of development.
Hao Ping, President of Peking University

University leaders agreed that in the near future it is necessary to prepare and sign an agreement on multilateral cooperation.