The delegation of Minin University, under the guidance of rector Alexander Fedorov, visited Shandong University of Technology, in Zibo, Shandong province, China, from 8 to 12 April 2019 at the invitation of the leadership of the partner University. The delegation also included advisors from the rector's office Olga Kim and Evgeny Zakablukovsky, and the head of the department of international education and cooperation, Tatyana Lebedeva.

During this visit, negotiations were held with the university officials and offices for international cooperation. Our representatives met with students from Minin University, who are currently studying in China.

Both university exchanged views on the results of cooperation and possibilities of future cooperation. Currently, 28 students of the faculty of Humanities of Minin University are trained in Zibo under the program of joint-degree program. At the moment, the Chinese side allocates grants covering the costs of education and accommodation, as well as a scholarship for students of Minin University. There was a discussion on the possibility of including the accompanying discipline "Chinese in the field of advertising" in future curriculum, as well as the allocation of additional grants for students of Minin University.

During these talks, both universities discussed the possibility of launching a double degree program such as English and Chinese as a foreign language. The Chinese delegation is interested in the possibilities of student participating in teaching practicums at Minin in such projects

At the end of May, Minin University will host 10 students from the faculty of law of Shandong University of Technology. They will be offered a short intensive lecture course on law and country studies.

In addition to student exchanges, both universities are already implementing an academic exchange of teachers. At the moment, universities send one person from each side to teach Russian or Chinese as a foreign language during the school year. An agreement was reached on a long-term assignment of a specialist from China in order to improve the skills of our research and teaching staff in the field of modern methods of teaching the Chinese language.

As part of the negotiations, the leadership of Shandong University of Technology invited our teachers to participate in the International Symposium on jurisprudence as experts. The forum will be held in China at the end of 2019. The Chinese side has formulated a request that Minin University is to conduct a joint comparative analysis on the body of legal acts for the purpose of developing a legal framework of cooperation between the countries along the Silk Road. This activity would be published in top international scientific journals.

The faculty of engineering at the Chinese University expressed interest in developing a program in the relevant field with the mandatory inclusion nt of advanced training of faculty members in the field of pedagogical skills. They also discussed the possibility of launching a double degree program in the fields of "ceramics", "materials science" and "design", which includes the exchange of teachers in the relevant areas.

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Shandong University of Technology (SUT), was founded in 1956 and is located in the middle part of Shandong province, Zibo city. The University offers interdisciplinary education in engineering, science, management, literature, law, Economics and pedagogy. The University has 16 academic faculties and 9 departments. There are 7 doctoral research stations, 6 doctoral directions in 31 specialties, 21 directions of master's degree in 111 specialties, and 75 undergraduate programs. Currently, there are more than 33 000 undergraduate students enrolled and 2 900 in master's degree programs and PhD programs. The University has 2,016 teachers, including 229 professors and 671 associate professors, 786 of whom have a PhD — doctorates of science. The University is actively involved in international exchanges and cooperations to promote the internationalization of education. Shandong University of Technology has different training programs and cooperates with 90 other higher education institutions from 40 countries.