Consul General of China Wu Yingqin Extended Invitations and Made New Cooperation Proposals

Consul and his colleagues visited on July 6th.

Mr. Wu started by briefly observing the latest developments in KFU's cooperation with China. The significant events of this year, in particular, were the 10th anniversary of the KFU Confucius Institute and the Forum of Russian Confucius Institutes. In total, 19 universities of China have established links with KFU so far.

The Consul then moved to the primary goal of his visit – inviting Rector Ilshat Gafurov to an international forum to be held by Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in September 2017.

Dr. Gafurov expressed his interest and added, "We have now started working closely on problems of petroleum science, and I would like for you to evaluate our potential in natural science in general. We would like to find partners in China in these areas as well – not only universities but also industry. In a number of projects, including those in viscous oils, we have found new partners through our ties with universities. Such are the cases with Canada, France, and Latin American countries. An example of successful cooperation with China is Haier's project in Naberezhnye Chelny. They are not only building a factory there but also preparing professionals for their facility at our Institute of Engineering".

Kazan University has experienced soaring growth in interest from Chinese enrollees. There are already over 600 students from PRC here, and 647 new applications have been processed for the 2017/2018 academic year already.

KFU celebrates 180 years of Oriental studies in Kazan this year (the oldest such department in Russia). The Consul agreed to assist in inviting Chinese media to KFU to shed light on this rich history for the largest TV audience in the world.

A gift exchange concluded the meeting.