Graduates of Donbas universities may get Russian diplomas

Russian Ministry of Education and Science has approved a list of Russian universities that will cooperate with universities of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and provide them with methodological and consulting support. The leading Russian universities will help Donbas colleagues organize educational, scientific and extracurricular activities.

The following universities will make the first partnerships:

• St. Petersburg Mining University, and Donetsk National Technical University;

• Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, and Mikhail Tugan-Baranovsky Donetsk National University of Economics and Trade;

• Kutafin Moscow State Law University, and Donbas Law Academy;

• Don State Technical University, and Donbas National Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture;

• Southern Federal University, and Gorlovka Foreign Languages Institute;

• Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University, and Donetsk Transport Academy;

• Shukhov Belgorod State Technological University, and Donbas State Technical Institute;

• Platov South-Russian State Polytechnic University, and Vladimir Dahl Luhansk State University;

• and Berbekov Kabardino-Balkarian State University, and Luhansk State Pedagogical University.

Valery Falkov, the Minister of Higher Education and Science of the Russian Federation, noted that this list would be expanded to include eventually all the universities of DPR and LPR.

The next step in the process of convergence, according to the head of Russian Ministry of Higher Education and Science, will be implementation of the double degree program by the universities of the Russian Federation and of the two republics.

As part of the network interaction of universities, Donbas students will be able to pass the final state certification both at their home university and at the corresponding Russian university, in order to receive two diplomas.