Cooperation with China continues
The Republic of Belarus and the People's Republic of China successfully cooperate in many areas, including the field of education. According to A.I. Ivanets, Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus: "... the sphere of education is the foundation without which it is difficult to imagine the development of full-fledged cooperation in the economy, politics, and other areas of interaction." Basically, Chinese citizens study in Belarus in such specialties as philology, art, journalism, economics, pedagogy, international relations, physical education.
The Belarusian State Agricultural Academy and the Northwestern University of Agriculture and Forestry are connected by long-term cooperation, mainly scientific and in the sphere of agronomy. For the second year in a row, Chinese students of the second level of education from Northwestern University of Agriculture and Forestry, Shaanxi Province, come to the academy for an internship in agronomy. In the last academic year, there were only two students who left very good reviews about the quality of their internship and their master's studies. This academic year, a group of undergraduates consisting of 8 people arrived for a three-month internship from this university.
Among the proposed internship options, students from China have chosen the specialty "Selection and Seed Production." This course will be taught in English by Galina Vitko, head of the department of selection and genetics. In addition, the students expressed a desire to study Russian. This suggests that interest in the Russian language is not weakening in China.
The internship programme involves the study of grammar, speech, country studies, literature, listening, geography, culture, history and traditions, Belarusian cuisine...
At the end of the internship, the students will receive certificates of passing an internship in seed production and a course "Russian as a foreign language."
On September 19, 2022, during the visit of the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to the People's Republic of China Yuri Senko to Shaanxi Province, a meeting was held with the rector of the Northwestern University of Agriculture and Forestry Li Xinwan. During the meeting, joint plans were outlined to expand cooperation in the field of scientific research and agricultural education.
The interest of Northwestern University of Agriculture and Forestry in agronomy is not accidental. In the province of Shaanxi, Yanglin, in the north-west of China, there is a demonstration park of smart agriculture with an area of more than 46 hectares, which is one of the educational and practical bases for the exchange and training of agricultural technologies of specialists from the SCO countries. In recent years, modern agro-industry has become one of the priority areas of cooperation between the SCO countries. The challenge is to produce more high-quality crop varieties through collaborative research. Northwestern University of Agriculture and Forestry scientists are contributing to the development of innovative technologies. The university has an 84-year history and is one of the leading in China. About 29 thousand students study at Northwestern University. The educational process is carried out by more than 1.6 thousand highly qualified teachers. The university has 23 faculties, and not all of them are related to agriculture and forestry, despite the agricultural focus of the university.
S.A.Noskova
Head of Department for International Cooperation
