December 21, 2016, SPbU’s Rector N. M. Kropachev has met Russia’s Ambassador in the Republic of Korea A. A. Timonin to discuss cooperation under “Dialogue Russia – Republic of Korea” (its Chairperson of the Coordination Committee is N. M. Kropachev) and international collaboration between St Petersburg University and Korea.

The last five years have seen essentially dynamic and increasingly stable cooperation with Korea’s universities (SPbU has 17 partners in Korea), said SPbU’s Rector. Further, we need to cover a wider spectrum to foster and encourage more effective cooperation, and Russian Embassy in Seoul will be a great help.

Bilateral cooperation in humanitarian sphere should rest on a dialogue between young people and exchange visits for journalists, as we are witnessing information deficit on the events in Russia and Korea, said Ambassador A.A. Timonin

N.M. Kropachev supported the Ambassador and told how we successfully contributed into these two spheres and how we are going to further develop them. 2016 saw Russia-Korea Youth “Dialogue” in July, a seminar for the experts in youth policy in November, and Korea’s journalists visited Russia to meet Russia’s political and social leaders. Moreover, education programmes at the University feature more and more national components, said the Rector: in 2017 we are planning to enroll at “International Management”, where students can learn the Korean language and corporative culture, and “Economics” to learn the Korean language and economy. All the education programmes features some courses on Pak Kyongni, a national treasure in Korean literature, and SPbU held a seminar on her works for the experts in literature.

To ensure regular visits for Russian and Korean journalists, especially among young people, is vital, just as to prepare specialists in cooperation between Korea and Russia, as SPbU is known for its academic excellence jn journalism, said N.M. Kropachev. A.A. Timonin supported the Rector and said that these initiatives would encourage and foster understanding between Russians and Koreans. Moreover, he said that he would support the Embassy and invited for active information exchange on a regular basis.