An educational cooperation symposium was held in Zibo city – located in East China's Shandong province – and broadcast via video on July 28, designed to deepen Zibo-Russia ties in the field.
Zibo holds an educational cooperation symposium with Russia via video on July 28. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Sun Yebao, deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shandong provincial government, said during a keynote speech that their department and the Shandong education department joined forces to establish the China-Russia (Shandong) International Education Cooperation Alliance in 2020.
This was designed to promote educational links and integrate high-quality educational resources between China and Russia. Sun said that the symposium on July 28 was considered one of the important communications activities of the alliance this year.
Sun gives a speech at the event on July 28. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
He added that Shandong was the hometown of Confucius and had always respected teachers and valued education. As the capital of the ancient state of Qi and the birthplace of Qi culture, Zibo boasts a long history in educational development. Russia is rich in educational resources and boasts many famous universities. Sun said that cooperation between the two made sense and could pave the way for some excellent future achievements.
During the symposium, schools at all levels and of various types in Zibo signed agreements and letters of intent for exchanges and cooperation with well-known universities in Russia. The Shandong University of Technology, for example, signed a cooperation agreement with Herzen University.
The vice principal of Moscow State University said during the symposium that it had always been committed to participating in international cooperation in talent training under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Shandong province leads China in the number of middle school students learning Russian and it is widely viewed there is great potential for bilateral educational cooperation. It was hoped that the signing of the agreements between the schools and the development of practical cooperation would contribute to the high-level development of friendly China-Russia relations.
