Over 100 students from all over the country joined the contest on 30th November – 1st December.
The Olympiad comprised writing, translation, speaking, poetry, listening, and photo stages. The judge panel this time included Mohammed El-Hannach (Mohammed V University), Iman Haridi (Cairo University), Gustav Schulz (University of Leipzig), and Rahim Ali Al-Foadi (University of Baghdad).
Kazan University is the home for Russia’s only center of certification in Arabic language. This happened thanks to a trilateral memorandum among KFU, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, and International Agency for Natural Language Processing.
The testing program was created by Dr. El-Hannach himself. He noted that the Olympiad now basically equals professional certification exams. He also praised the level of existing Arabic studies at KFU. Notably, a master program in Arabic language will soon be opened at the Institute of International Relations.
The Olympiad was accompanied by a festival of Arabic culture, cuisine, and arts. Students from Syria, Egypt, Yemen, and Morocco were glad to showcase what their countries are known for.
Director of the Higher School of International Relations and Oriental Studies of the Institute of International Relations Elmira Khabibullina concluded, “We hope that this Russian Olympiad will become an international contest, and Kazan University has appropriate resources to host such a competition.”
Source text: Alina Iskanderova
Translation: Yury Nurmeev