"LETI Has Specialties that Will Help in the Future": Syrian Students Took a Course at LETI

10 students from Syria studied in the program "Russian for Engineering" at St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI" as part of the Summer University international project.

09.09.2022 626

Students were taught the basics of Russian for communication in technical areas. During lectures and workshops, participants learned to perceive speech and received language practice with technical terms.

"I chose to come here because it's an opportunity that comes once in a life. I'm not going to miss this chance, especially since LETI has faculties and specialties that can help me in my future specialty. I think this opportunity that LETI gave us would help me combine my profession and studies with electrical engineering specialties to provide my or Russian society or any other society with as much knowledge as I can." 

At the Social Design Accelerator, participants from Syria worked on a social project in teams with students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. They created project sheets and outlined steps for their implementation. According to participants from other countries, working with Syrian students on a common task allowed them to significantly improve their English language skills.

"At LETI, we developed a social project. Often students or employees can't get enough sleep, so we decided to make capsules where people can take naps to work more productively, get enough energy, and improve their health. It is a great experience for me. My team members are very friendly and intelligent. They have so many great ideas, and we are working very hard to make a good project," said Aya Hassan, a student at Tishreen University (Syria).

The students were able to better understand the culture of Russia and St. Petersburg on seven tours of the city and its environs. Participants visited Peterhof, Tsarskoye Selo, Kronstadt, Vyborg, Peter and Paul Fortress, and the Hermitage. The most memorable event, according to the students, was a workshop on painting matryoshkas, and now the participants will go home with a symbol of Russia made with their hands.

"We had a workshop where we painted matryoshkas. I grew up in a place full of these dolls because my father studied in Russia. Here I discovered that it has a soul, and it is more than just an image of a woman."

LETI has been cooperating with Syrian universities for many years and accepts students from Syria for training. The first graduate from the republic graduated from the Electrotechnical Institute in 1973. Throughout its history, the university has trained 95 professionals from Syria. In the academic year 2021/2022, more than 30 Syrian students enrolled in the educational programs of the university. Students from this country annually participate in the university's summer and winter schools.

"Cooperation with Syrian universities is, above all, promising in terms of attracting students and postgraduates with good basic training. In recent years, we have managed to build a system in which Syrian applicants go through all stages of education from the undergraduate to the postgraduate level. Their high level of training allows us to attract them to work at LETI. Some already teach in both English- and Russian-speaking groups and participate in research projects. The Summer University program is a big step forward. This approach, supported by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, gives us a chance to compete in attracting strong students from the world's leading universities. We hope that the project participants will pass the charm of their visit to St. Petersburg and the opportunities to study in Russia to their classmates and friends".

In June 2022, as part of a visit to the Syrian Arab Republic, Renat Yalyshev, the head of the International Students Office of LETI, signed cooperation agreements with three universities - Tishrin University, Aleppo University, and Damascus University. The memoranda will contribute to strengthening and expanding cooperation between the universities in research, educational, social, and cultural activities.