MPEI in project "Russia – new opportunities for higher education" in the Middle East

From the 30th of September until the 6th of October 2019 the Rossotrudnichestvo department in the Republic of Lebanon carried out the exposition events “Russia – new opportunities for higher education”. This is the second Middle East exposition of Russian Universities that comprised 19 organizations representing more than 250 fields of study for different levels of higher education. The International Administration of MPEI was represented there by the Vice-rector assistant, Dean of foreign students Alexander Ankin.

Lebanon and Syria are interesting for Russia because there live many graduates of the Soviet and Russian Universities, many mixed families where children are Russian-speaking and are de facto Russian compatriots who live abroad.

During the first two days the expo was carried out in Syria and the next five - in Lebanon. The opening of the exposition was at University of Damascus, where the workshop of the meeting of the delegations was held under the aegis of the Minister of Higher Education of Syria Basam Ibrahim. The Russian delegates were led by the Head of the Russian Center of Science and culture Vadim Zaychikov. Doctor Mohammad Maher Gabakibi, President of University of Damascus gave a speech about the importance of the expo. MPEI stand was exposed by Alexander Ankiin and MPEI Alumnus Omar Vared who currently teaches in Damascus University

On the 1st of October 2019 the priority project “Development of export potential of the Russian Education system” and its exposition of Russian universities took place in Latakia, Syria. The biggest hall of Tishrin University was opened for all the guests who wanted to find out about the leading Russian universities. It was Bassam Hasan, President of Tishrin University, who opened the exposition which had almost 2800 attendants. These were secondary school graduates, bachelor and master students and their parents. A huge interest was shown by Syrian applicants to study in Russian universities in a various number of fields, especially in engineering and medicine.

The exposition was held in Lebanon cities of Beirut, Tripoli, Tir and Batrun.

On the 2nd of October 2019 in Tripoli in the campus of Lebanon State University named Michael Sleiman, 20 Russian Universities that specialize in training of high-quality specialists in all the domains of higher education, presented their programs to the Lebanese visitors.

The solemn opening of the exposition was given on the 3rd of October in the conference hall of Lebanon State University. Among the guests invited to the ceremony were Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation Alexander Zasypkin, Rector of Lebanon State University Fuad Ayub, Head of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Beirut (Lebanon) Vadim Zaychikov, Head of Cooperation Department in Higher and Supplementary Education of Rossotrudnichestvo Igor Polyachenko.

MPEI Alumni were gathering at MPEI stand that was presented in Arabic and English. Among the MPEI graduates, there were teachers of Lebanon State University Karam Fares and Mazen Ghandour. Dr. El-Ali Raja Shafik, MPEI Alumnus and Head of Association of Soviet Alumni, also took part in the work and publicity coverage.

After the exhibition, traditionally, a round table was held, at which the heads of most faculties of the Lebanese university and representatives of leading Russian universities gathered. The sides summarized the intermediate work, pointed out successful achievements, analyzed the causes and consequences of delays, exchanged the new information about the priority projects that would be realized on the international level.

In Tir, the Russian exposition was held on the basis of the Cultural Center named Basel Al Assad, and attracted over 1,200 visitors. Hassan Dabuk, Mayor of Tir, stated that the popularity of Russian universities is due to the fact that local residents are well aware of the quality of training in the USSR and Russia. Specialists of the highest level that graduated from universities of Moscow and other Russian cities returned to their homeland and took well-esteemed posts in economy, politics and other spheres.

Irina Sakr, Director of the House of the Russian-Lebanese Diaspora in Batrun, warmly welcomed the participants of the exposition on October 5 and provided territory for the event. Traditionally, for the exposition, the stands of all universities deserved due attention of applicants, and the House staff helped with the translation into Arabic, as in Lebanon the second native language is French.

Following the results of the exhibition and round tables, proposals for scientific and educational cooperation began to come to the mail of the Foreign Office, and representatives of recruiting companies became interested in the university.​