The ceremony of opening the Ural International Integration Centre was held at South Ural State University in a roundtable discussion format on January 28.
South Ural State University gathered directors of public associations and national cultural centres of the Chelyabinsk region, representatives of religious associations of the Southern Ural, and jurisprudence experts in the sphere of migration legislation.
The roundtable discussion was opened by Chairman of the Akademicheskaya Chelyabinsk City Board of Lawyers, Mikhail Yanin. He determined the main goals and objectives of the event.
The Rector of SUSU, Doctor of Sciences (Engineering), Professor Aleksandr Shestakov offered a welcoming speech to the gathered guests. He stressed the attention on the overdue necessity to create such a body:
“Nowadays, there are more than 2000 international students from 52 countries studying at South Ural State University. We aspire to enter the international education space and set the goal to become a truly authoritative international university, so working with international students and cooperation with international partner higher education institutions is very important for us.”
Deputy President of the Sothern Ural’s Association of International Students, Diana Tazeddinova, and SUSU’s Vice-Rector for International Relations, Olga Yaroshenko, presented their reports regarding SUSU’s international activity.
“Regarding the fact that the number of international students at SUSU is growing year after year, there are more and more issues connected with visas, accommodation, study process and domestic issues. We decided to involve external organisations and Diasporas in order to solve these issues together and provide assistance to international students who are valuable for us. South Ural State University takes active participation in life of foreign citizens of the region: we have the Centre for Russian Language Testing and the Pushkin Institute Centre. Therefore, the Ural International Integration Centre will be able to provide assistance to foreign citizens of not only our university, but of the entire city and the region. We aspire to establish the Centre in order to improve the life quality of foreign citizens,” says Olga Yaroshenko.
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Participants of the roundtable discussion talked about prospects of the Centre’s activity, having emphasized the necessity of a close cooperation with the Directorate for Migration Affairs of the HO MIA of Russian for the Chelyabinsk region and other law enforcement bodies of the region; they also pointed out the necessity for migrants to get provided with free expert legal assistance.
Summarizing the results, participants of the roundtable discussion decided that the Ural International Integration Centre is going to act as a body established on the basis of a meaningful cooperation of SUSU, public associations, scientific and educational institutions and business communities of the Chelyabinsk region, and intended to provide informational, organisational, advisory and legal support to migrants, as well as implement the state migration policy at the territory of the Southern Ural. The Centre is going to operate on the basis of voluntary participation, self-regulation, visibility, and self-consistency in making decisions regarding the issues in the range of its competence.
Deputy Head of the Executive Office of the Public Chamber of the Chelyabinsk Region regional state public institution, Ilya Kolomeyskiy, expressed his opinion regarding the Ural International Integration Centre’s establishment.
“Establishment of the Centre is a very prospective initiative, as it is obvious that there is a huge demand for integration of foreign citizens in the region. Students are ready to come to our region; however, not all higher education institutions are ready for communication with foreign citizens. Therefore, such type of international activity is one of the most important steps towards internationalisation.”
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Concluding the event, Chairman of the roundtable discussion, Mikhail Yanin, noted the necessity in a meaningful cooperation of all public associations and national cultural centres of the Chelyabinsk region which are not indifferent to migration problems.
Participants of the roundtable discussion parted on a positive note, having decided to hold a meeting in the closest future in order to sign agreement on interaction and cooperation between the Ural International Integration Centre and public associations and national cultural centres of the Southern Ural.
Full photo coverage of the event is available via link.