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Straight-A students and one talented underachiever

At the beginning of the meeting, Elena Apasova, Vice-Rector for Strategic Communications at RUDN University, shared three stories about African students with the guests.

When a group of students from South Africa first came to us, I asked one of them, ‘Why did you choose RUDN?’ He said that he really wanted to become a farmer, learn how to grow different fruit and process them. The second story I would like to share is about our upcoming annual meeting of top students. Two students from Africa have earned only top marks for 10 semesters at the Institute of Medicine, which is a remarkable achievement. The third story is about our cameraman, Junior, who is filming today’s event. He enrolled in the Faculty of Science at Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia and received a great many failing grades. But we saw that he was a natural cameraman: he has a strong visual sense and works well with the camera. He is now studying journalism. At our university, every student has the opportunity to change their professional path," said Elena Apasova.

After sharing the students’ stories, the Vice-Rector went on to speak about the university itself. As Elena Apasova noted, the RUDN family is very large, with 200,000 graduates worldwide. Our university is the country’s most multidisciplinary and also the greenest university. Its researchers actively collaborate with African colleagues. Together, they have published 540 papers, 10 of which rank among the top 1% most cited.

“RUDN has a grant programme to support research. Two representatives of Africa — one from Algeria and the other from Egypt — have received university grants. One project focuses on new methods of managing crop production, while the other deals with innovative approaches to assessing soil contamination in agriculture,” said Elena Apasova.

Vice-Rector for International Affairs Marina Rekets added that RUDN currently has 2,500 African students from almost every country on the continent, except for Lesotho.

“We hope that next year we will welcome students from that country as well. We cannot help but emphasize — and feel — RUDN’s special bond with Africa. In a sense, it would be fair to say that RUDN began with Africa,” said Marina Rekets.

According to her, over the years RUDN has trained nearly 16,000 specialists for African countries. In addition, the university maintains partnerships with dozens of African universities.

Discovering RUDN

RUDN’s guests showed great interest in asking about the specifics of studying at the university, the reasons why it was named after Patrice Lumumba, and its cooperation with universities across the continent. They learned not only about the academic and research opportunities available to African students, but also about students’ creative self-expression in the “Interclub” studios, as well as the security measures on campus. At the end of the meeting, members of the delegation received branded university merchandise as a gift. The African journalists were highly impressed by their visit.

“I am discovering Russia for myself — this is my first time here, and it is wonderful. What surprised me most at RUDN is the sheer diversity of nationalities represented here. I thought it would be 99% Russians and perhaps two or three international students. But it turned out to be a small world where all nationalities and ethnic groups are present. Now I am thinking that perhaps my daughter — she is 14 now — should apply here,” said Tilado Apollinaire Abga, Information Director of the Burkinabe Information Agency.

Your university fully lives up to its name. I was genuinely pleased to see that the Russian and African peoples are united, and that we share a common understanding of respect for human dignity. I am glad to see so many African students who have come here to study. They receive excellent education and degrees that allow them to build their careers. So I am truly delighted: I think that in the future my children will come here to study — to Russia, to RUDN," said Vanette Mercia Loemba, Head of the Editorial Office at the ACI bureau in Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo.

Compared with what we hear and see in other media, with the information coming from all sides and spreading negative propaganda about Russia, what we saw here was completely different. We came to understand that Russia is a welcoming country, a country with a strong sense of social responsibility — a wonderful country where people can truly enjoy life. What I especially appreciated about RUDN is that you value every student. You treat students as if they were your own children. You look at each person’s potential and help students discover what they do best," said Marlise Rosy Lauriane Chibinda Batchi, Head of the Government Information Editorial Office at ACI.