On September 16, the opening ceremony of the Center of Russian Language and Culture of the MRSU University took place in the city of Chennai at the SRM Institute of Science and Technology- India. The Center will offer Russian language courses for students of different levels of training, and will host cultural events, including master classes and open lectures on Russian literature, history, and art, as well as consulting support.

The opening was attended by: Mr. Valery Khodjaev, Consul General of Russia in Chennai, Mr. Pavel Shevtsov Deputy Head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Head of the Russian House in Chennai Mr. Alexander Dodonov.

«On behalf of Rossotrudnichestvo, I congratulate Monrovia state university and the SRM Institute of Science and Technology with the opening of the Center for Russian Language and Culture. We believe that this is a very important event for both the Russian Federation and India. Our countries are now in a very interesting historical period in the development of relations, not only fr om the point of view of politics and economics, but also in the humanitarian sphere. A lot of guys fr om India go to the Russian Federation to study. We also see a rise in interest in studying Hindi and other Indian languages ​​in Russia. We know that studying languages ​​is a good way to develop trade, economic, political, humanitarian relations and mutual understanding between our countries. The world is changing now, and Russia is actively looking towards Southeast Asia. It seems to me that the opening of this center will give an additional impetus to the development of our relations,» emphasized Deputy Head of Rossotrudnichestvo Mr. Pavel Shevtsov.

The Russian Language and Culture Centre will play a key role in strengthening cultural and educational ties between Russia and India. One of the Centre’s main objectives is to prepare Indian students for master’s and postgraduate studies at Russian universities. This will open up new academic and career opportunities for students, and enable them to successfully integrate into the Russian educational system and participate in international programmes.

The Centre will become an important platform for the dissemination of Russian culture and language in the academic environment of India, which will contribute to the expansion of mutual understanding and strengthening of friendly relationship between the countries.

«We met nine months ago and agreed to start working from the first meeting. In a short time, we learned

to hear each other and quickly achieve results. I am sure that the Center of Russian Language and Culture will allow us to understand each other even more. The first students from our university have already completed their internship here. And now we are looking forward to the SRM Institute team and students coming to Russia and our university," said Mr. Dmitry Glushko, Rector of MRSU.

The celebration was attended by the university administration and a number of Russian and Indian students residing in Saransk via video conference, wh ere a number of Indian students presented poems in the Russian language.

The SRM Institute is one of the leading private universities in India, wh ere 50,000 people study. The Ogarev Mordovia State University is a major scientific center in Russia, ranked 3rd in the Global Subject Ranking, with 19,000 students, including 1,200 Indian citizens