The Center for Political Analysis and Cultural Studies is a new student association at Irkutsk State University. The official opening ceremony took place at the end of last week. The event was attended by ISU Rector Alexander Schmidt, professors and teachers of the university, representatives of the regional expert community in the field of political sciences.

Vladislav Smetanin, Head of the Center, Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, History and Regional Studies, ISU:

- The center was set up to conduct regional research in the social, political and cultural spheres. The activities carried out will allow students to significantly expand their knowledge and go a way from a young researcher interested in political analysis and the cultural vector of society's development to an expert. The research results will be published on social networks; we also plan to spread them to regional news agencies. I am sure that soon this new student association will gain the status of an expert center - professional, open and honest.

The Center for Political Analysis and Cultural Studies has united a small group of active students of the History faculty of ISU. They will conduct activities within the framework of the new youth association under the supervision of mentors.

At the official opening of the Center, students presented the first results of their work. The invited experts noted, among other things, such a positive aspect as the use by students of the institutional structure and wide potential of the new youth association to develop their own research and intensify contacts with the regional and all-Russian student scientific community.