African students get to know Siberia

Students from Africa have arrived in Nizhnevartovsk, which is located in Western Siberia. For almost a year they will be taking the preparatory course, studying Russian and getting ready for the admission to Ugra State University. Students from Zambia and Ghana still need to adapt to student life. Now they are familiarizing themselves with Nizhnevartovsk and getting used to snow and cold. On all excursions they are accompanied by an interpreter.

One of the African students’ first excursions was a visit to the exposition of Nizhnevartovsk State University. Here, photographs of famous graduates are presented side by side with missiles fr om the Great Patriotic War, and samples of minerals the district is rich in, are laid out next to household items found at archaeological excavations. To help foreign students join the student community more comfortably, a day of international communication was held at the university, wh ere everyone shared exciting facts about their homeland, Africa or Russia.

The beginning of the studies coincided this year with another round of the pandemic. In order to safely attend classes without worrying about health, students had a medical check-up and got all the necessary vaccination, including that against coronavirus.

Over 90 percent of Russian universities accept students from abroad. Last year, more than 100 thousand foreigners entered the country's educational institutions. But for Ugra universities and colleges, this experience is still a novelty.

And recently we have written about the specialization most often chosen by applicants from Africa while entering Russian universities.