Kazan University and Morocco: Cooperation Underway

A KFU delegation visited Tetuan and Casablanca on February 11th – 13th.

The team consisted of Ramil Khayrutdinov (Director of the Institute of International Relations, History and Oriental Studies), Mohammad al-Ammari (Director of Al Khadara Center of KFU), and Pavel Kolesnikov (Associate Professor, Head of the Arabic Language Center). They met with colleagues from Abdelmalek Essaadi University and University of Hassan II Casablanca.

The memorandum of cooperation between AEU and KFU was prolonged. As for UHC, it has been engaged in joint language programs with the Al Khadara Center for the last five years – the largest cooperation effort of its kind between Russian and Arabic/Maghreb universities.

A new strategic goal was achieved during the visit as well – a trilateral agreement to establish a partner program for Arabic language testing at KFU. The signatories were Dr. Khayrutdinov, Director of the Higher School of Translation of AEU Nuradin Shamlali, and Director of the International Agency for Natural Language Processing (IA4NLP) Mohammad al-Khannash.

Arabic language tests had not been standardized until very recently when Cairo University started holding them in August – the two systems are the Certificate of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic and the Certificate of Modern Standard Arabic. KFU academics were one of the first alumni of the corresponding short courses in 2016.

A more universal test program was proposed by Dr. Al-Khannash. He is one of the co-founders of the journals Linguistica Communication and Synergies Monde-Arabe, a member of the World Arabic Translators Association and the founder of IA4NLP, the agency tasked with preparing a comprehensive international Arabic language testing system. The system currently includes 25 thousand questions and is in use in Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and some European countries. It is based on classic Arabic standards and has already gained traction among employers.

The agreement stipulates that Kazan University will exercise the exclusive right of teaching Arabic according to the IA4NLP program and conducting the tests for all learners in Russia and several other countries. The Moroccan side will provide assistance in learning the supporting software for Al Khadara Center employees. KFU plans to become the leading methodological center of Arabic language testing in Russia.

Dr. Khayrutdinov said that this is a splendid development for the 210th anniversary of Oriental studies at KFU. The plan is to establish an annual Arabic language contest for Russian non-religious universities. Islamic higher education institutions have already got such an opportunity thanks to the Russian Islamic Institute (Kazan).

Bolgar Islamic Academy, a religious educational institution currently under construction with the help from Kazan University, is also likely to receive theological expertise from relevant Moroccan scholars thanks to Dr. Khayrutdinov’s negotiations during the visit.