Rector Nikolay Kropachev has met Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Onur Ahmed Onur, сharges d'Affaires.

During the conversation with the esteemed guests, the Rector expressed concern that the relations between St Petersburg University and Sudan universities in the sphere of science and education are of low intensity at present. Within the academic mobility programme, only one teacher of St Petersburg University has been able to visit Sudan over the past eight years. In turn, only two students from Sudan are currently studying at St Petersburg University.

Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, explained that their country had lived through the hard times of isolation as well as downfall in the sphere of education before the people’s revolution. Today, in the post-revolutionary period, the government of Sudan is pursuing the policy of openness and is interested in strengthening the relations between universities of Russia and Sudan.

Cooperation with St Petersburg University is among the strategic interests of the Ministry of Higher Education of the Republic of the Sudan. We appreciate good relations with Russia and look forward to fruitful cooperation in the academic and scientific spheres.
Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs

‘We would like the work of our Embassy to contribute to strengthening the relations between our countries,’ says Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs.

To further promote St Petersburg University among future applicants, researchers and teachers, it was proposed to publish the information about the University and its Research Park on the website of the Embassy of Sudan in Russia.

Currently, St Petersburg University is in cooperation only with one Sudanese university – Red Sea

University. Previously, a similar framework agreement was signed with the University of Khartoum, but it terminated. Rector Nikolay Kropachev proposed that the agreement between our universities should be renewed. The representatives of the Republic of the Sudan promised that these proposals will be passed to the Rector of the University of Khartoum.

The topic of creating joint academic programmes between St Petersburg University and the leading universities of Sudan was especially relevant. 

Rector Nikolay Kropachev suggested that Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, should discuss the possibility of double degree programmes with the higher educational establishments of Sudan. He pointed out that this may be possible only with the support of the Government of the Republic.  

The parties have also initiated a conference devoted to the history and culture of Sudan to be held in late October 2021 at St Petersburg University. Experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sudan, the Embassy of Sudan in the Russian Federation, and Ahmed Mohamed Suleiman, Rector of the University of Khartoum, were invited to take part in the conference.

Among other joint projects it was planned to open a representative office of St Petersburg University in one of the leading Sudanese universities, tentatively, Red Sea University. 

Several years ago, we started to open our representative offices abroad. At the moment, there are six of them, but none of them is in Africa.
Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University

The participants considered a possibility of opening the Russian Language Testing Centre within the framework of the ‘Pushkin Classroom of the Russian Language’ project at the University of Khartoum. St Petersburg University has opened such centres in over 40 countries. The Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs noted that there is a need in a Russian Culture Centre in Khartoum in order to popularise the Russian culture and language. She proposed that St Petersburg University should take part in its creation. 

In conclusion, the parties separately discussed a possibility of joint archaeological research. In February 2020, experts of St Petersburg University took part in archaeological excavations in Sudan with the support of the Sudanese Ministry of Antiquities. Rector Nikolay Kropachev is convinced that such cooperation will be of great interest to the students and teachers of St Petersburg University.