On December 1-4, 2020, the 13th Education Week for the SCO Member States Education Without Borders was held via videoconference.
The plenary session, The Transformation of Higher Education in the SCO Member States in Conditions of Instability, took place on 1 December. It was moderated by the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) and attended by representatives from the education and science ministries and the national rectorates of SCO University (SCOU).
“In the current epidemiological situation, it is particularly important for our countries to pool their efforts in a search for the most effective methods to continue high quality education. We need to rely on existing experience and projects on education cooperation, the main one being SCO University. Its 1,500 graduates have received education in seven specialties in MA courses. Now the university is considering expanding the priority areas of education, primarily in medicine, agriculture, law and international journalism,” said RUDN President and SCOU Rector Vladimir Filippov.
The annual meeting of the SCOU Russian National Rectorate was attended by representatives from the leading universities in Russia, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and Rossotrudnichestvo (the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation). On December 2, they discussed a report on measures to carry out the SCOU’s plan in 2020-2030. The coordinating universities informed them about the results of their work in seven priority areas: IT, nanotechnology, pedagogy, regional studies, the environment, economics, and the energy industry. The experts agreed on the need to digitise the enrollment process and the education and business administration for SCOU.
“SCO University is increasingly helping our states reach sustainable development goals. The development of ties between young talented students, leading scientists, business representatives and the public sector is enhancing the role of the university in the socio-economic development of the SCO states and promotes bilateral and multilateral dialogue,” emphasised Robert Fyodorov, representative of the Ministry of Science and Education.
In addition, on 2 December the participants took part in a roundtable discussion on the innovative view and efficiency of cooperation of the young generation in the SCO countries. They represented about 200 leading universities in Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The floor was taken by the coordinators of the dual MA programmes of the SCOU RUDN (Russia), Moscow State Linguistic University (Russia), the Dalian University of Foreign Languages (China), Gumilev Eurasian National University (Kazakhstan), and Russian-Tajik Slavonic University (Tajikistan). Students and graduates of SCOU MA programmes on priority areas of education in foreign regional studies, psychology and environmental protection gave reports on their views of the major problems in the SCO countries.
On December 3-4, Novosibirsk hosted the scientific conference on international cooperation as a response to the challenge of the decade in the interests of the future generations as well as the following sections: Science: Academic and Technological Leadership, and Open Education. Workshops and open lectures on technological business, open education and digital marketing were held on the sidelines of the conference.