8 October 2012
3-7 October, visit of delegation from Uganda to Belgorod State University
The Makerere University is one of the oldest and biggest universities not only in Uganda but in the whole Africa. Namely delegates from this university paid a visit to Russia last week. Importantly, one of the visitors was the Nobel Peace Prize 2007 winner, who at the same time is the only winner of this valuable prize who stems from the African continent – Professor Tom Otiti. Besides, there were two professors in the delegation, who had studied in the former Soviet Union. Prof. Sandy Stevens Tickodri Tigboa and Dr. Barnabas Nawangwe have significantly impressed everyone with their fluent Russian! The ultimate reason of their coming was to establish closer relations with the Belgorod State Technological University which had offered various programs of mutual collaboration. Upon arrival to Belgorod, the delegation had been given a generous welcome by the representatives of the University. First of all, a meeting with the Government of the Region had been conducted, after which the guests were shown the territory, the campuses and other facilities of the university. The reaction of the guests was very impressive; they shared their mostly positive emotions openly! A meeting was held with the academic board of the university, during which some information was shared between the two sides regarding major directions of scientific researches and finally found mutually interesting topics of researches, which they agreed to develop with mutual efforts. However, the major agreement had been reached regarding the creation of double diplomas for a range of specialties. The educational process will be organized in the following way: students from African countries will study at the Makerere University in the first academic year. Afterwards, they will be transferred to the Belgorod State University. Another important point is the academic exchange of professors and tutors between two universities, which will be launched soon. The trip turned out to be an exciting and beneficial event for the guests from Uganda – a certain start of a new era of fruitful cooperation!