Even though the borders are still closed, international cooperation of ISU with foreign partners goes on.
Every summertime period ISU students take part in the International Summer School organized by Kanazawa University. This year due to the COVID-19 crisis Summer school took place online. Main emphasis, as usual, was placed on the approaches for the preservation of natural ecosystems by the case of Japanese national parks and reserves. 25 students from different Russian universities (Moscow State University, St. Petersburg University, Kazan Federal University, Far-Eastern Federal University, Altai State University and Irkutsk State University) participated in this summer activity.
One-week course included video-lectures delivered by Japanese professors, presentation of UNESCO programs aimed at preservation of biodiversity. At the end of the course students participated in a discussion with Japanese students.
- I have positive impression from this program. Organization was on the highest level. Personally, I liked Japanese classes: completely difficult language was explained in a simple way for beginners. At the conclusion of the training I felt that I completed the course of basic Japanese. Lectures in Ecology were so informative as well: full information about Japanese systems for environmental reserves in general and about the Hakusan National park in particular was given to us. Furthermore, we have known a lot of interesting facts about Kanazawa University. A couple of days ago I managed to create one local chat in the social net to work together with other Japanese and Russian students, – Mr. Valery Kalinin, student of ISU Law Institute, commented on.
- I am very pleased that the school organizers are interested in the exchange of both scientific and cultural experience. Besides the lectures in Ecology and in Japanese, we exchanged contacts with Japanese students. We were encouraged to interact with each other during and after the program. For example, we were divided into small mixed Russian-Japanese teams, and together we discussed the cultural aspects of life in our countries. Now we have a common task to create a video on a free topic related to culture or learning. We are free to choose the topic and the format. The only thing is that the participation of all group members is necessary. I would say that such projects inspire, make us happy and provide us with great experience. Once again let me express my gratitude for this great opportunity. I hope to visit Kanazawa University to have a full-fledged internship there, – Mr. Mikhail Berezhnoy, a student of Faculty of Biology and Soil Studies, shared his impressions.
Kanazawa University is one of the main ISU Japanese partners. In 2018 ISU joined «Inter-University Exchange Project (Russia) », that provides ISU students with an opportunity to take part in summer schools and to have an internships in Kanazawa University for free.