UNESCO Chair in Policies of Higher Education

Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia is an international classic university. It is charged with the following mission:

• Uniting people of different nations, races and religions by means of knowledge;
• Training qualified specialists in various spheres of activity;
• Forming personalities, who love their native countries and are friends of Russia; who are familiar with the achievements of world culture; who boost the ideals of humanism, democracy and peoples’ friendship.
• Training young people, capable of working in any country of the world and using their creativity in the context of interconnection of civilizations and diversity of modern society.

• The purpose of the Chair shall be to promote an integrated system of research, training, information and documentation in the field of policies of higher education.
• It will serve as a means of facilitating collaboration between high-level, internationally recognized researchers and teaching staff of the University and other institutions in the Russian Federation.

Implementation of Joint Educational Programmes is one of the main and acknowledged ways of university internationalization. Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia has a leading position among Russian and European higher education institutions in this area. Joint Educational Programmes include long and short-term educational programmes established and implemented by PFUR in partnership with one or more partner-universities (or other institutions engaged in educational activities).

The Department for international projects and programmes has elaborated a university-wide technology to manage the joint educational programmes. This technology includes the procedures established for interaction with faculties, administrative and legal support for joint programmes, advising on academic mobility, maintaining a database of joint programmes, monitoring of their implementation, and reports on their implementation.

Establishment of joint educational programmes with foreign partner-universities gave occasion to a number of significant changes in academic life of PFUR: there is an innovative mechanism for the University integration into the world education area and a unique experience of cooperation with foreign partner-universities; quality of master’s programmes was improved that means an improvement of the transparency of content, the logic of the educational process, a growth of PFUR attraction in the Regional and European Education Area as well as infrastructure of the Russian language support in the partner countries enhanced. But, in the same time, our students have started to be interested more actively in foreign languages learning.

Finally, academic mobility mechanisms were got on the right track that has aided to increase its capacity.

The new strategic partnership is currently being established. It aims to implement new joint projects and research within the European Education Area and on the territory of the CIS member-states as well.

PFUR has been implementing 22 programmes with European countries and China and 54 joint educational projects with the CIS countries.

 

Joint Master’s Programmes:

• “Public Administration - Political Sciences

in collaboration with Pierre-Mendès-France University – PMFU (Grenoble, France)

• “History and Cultures' Dialogue"

in collaboration with Pierre-Mendès-France University – PMFU (Grenoble, France)

• “Political problems of European Integration"

in collaboration with Bordeaux–4 University (France)

• “Philosophy  and cultures' dialogue"

in collaboration with Paris-8 University (France)

• “Public Administration -Political Sciences"

in collaboration with Potsdam University (Germany)

• "Cultural Heritage Research and Management"

in collaboration with University of the Balearic Islands (Spain)

• «Modern Trends of Russian and Chinese History: Comparative Approach"

in collaboration with Shandong University (People's Republic of China)

• «Political  Problems of International Relations and Global Development"

in collaboration with Shandong University (People's Republic of China)

• «Philosophy: Dialogue of Cultures"

in collaboration with Shandong University (People's Republic of China)

• “World Politics"

in collaboration with  Beijing Foreign Studies University (People's Republic of China)

• “Language and Culture, Slavic Studies"

in collaboration with Bordeaux-3 University (France)

• "International Project Management"

in collaboration with National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (CNAM-IIM), Paris (France)

• «International Trade"

in collaboration with National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (CNAM-IIM), Paris (France)

• «International Trade»

in collaboration with National University of State Tax Service of Ukraine

• «Innovation in Business Creation and Management»

in collaboration with Jönköping University (Sweden)

“Zootechny”

in collaboration with Kyrgyz Agrarian University n.a. K.I. Skryabin

Joint Bachelors’ Programmes

• “Applied Translation”

in collaboration with London Metropolitan University

• “Economy and Management”

in collaboration with Nice Sophia Antipolis University

Development of Educational Programmes in Foreign Languages has  become one the main priorities of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia for the last years. Most departments of the University are actively dealing with it.

PFUR master’s programmes meet the international criteria of contemporary education. Most courses are unique and implicate interdisciplinary approach. They consist of lectures, laboratory and practical classes, students’ research work and internships. There are 16 master’s programmes:

Master's Programmes in English

• Chemistry of the Environments

• Functional Methods in Differential Equations and Interdisciplinary Researches

• Theoretical Physics

• Innovations in Business Creation and Management

• Economics of Natural Resources Management

• Ecological Biotechnology

• The Real Estate Economics in Agro - Industrial Complex

• Agronomy (Plant protection)

• Comparative Philosophy

• World Politics: Political Processes and Maintenance of International Security

• Theoretical and Applied Linguistics

• Master of Art in Journalism

• Communication Theory and International Public Relations (PR)

• Regional Studies

• International Protection of Human Rights

• International Trade

Master's Programme in Spanish

• Management in IInternational Marketing

PFUR Post Graduate Programmes at the Doctoral level

• Cardiology

• Theoretical Physics

• General and Regional Geology

• Environmental Studies

• Plants Protection.

• World Economics

• International Law, European Law

• Journalism

• Political Problems of International Relations, Global and Regional Development

 

Creating an effective global approach to sustainable development doubtless belongs to higher education. UNESCO is responsible for coordinating the efforts of governments, educators and students to integrate the issue of sustainable development into educational systems. Thus the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) was adopted in 2002 by the United Nations General Assembly for 2005 to 2014. Then there was a Statement of participants of the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) which took place in Bonn, Germany, from 31 March to 2 April 2009. The conference aimed to highlight the relevance of ESD to all spheres of education, to promote international exchange, to implement the UN Decade, and to develop new strategies.

The documents related to these two events include many interdependent spheres into sustainable development. The most important of them are ecological, economic, political, social, health and cultural ones (especially climate change, human rights, sustainable livelihoods, poverty reduction, gender equality, corporate social responsibility, etc).

Strategy program to develop all these spheres is based on a complementary approach.

Subsequently, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia RUDN activities contributing to sustainability generally follows UNESCO decisions, actions and resolutions. The University integrates the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of teaching, educating and learning.

The most spectacular example is PFUR Ecological Faculty, working in accordance with four priority areas of action for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development - promote basic education, reorient and revise education programs, develop public understanding and awareness, provide practical training.

Faculty has such Educational and Research Centers as "Human Ecology” and "Applied Ecology". There is also a Center for supplementary professional education with refresher courses «Forensic ecological expertise», «Expertise of labor conditions and environment», «Eco-safety expert» etc. Ecological safety and environment conservancy are priority research areas. Students of the Ecological Faculty study not only disciplines, related to ecology, but also economics, political sciences, sociology, etc.

Other examples are international conferences, which always attract many students and professors from different countries:

1. International scientific and practical conference under the auspices of UNESCO on “PFUR – uniting through knowledge. Summing up 50 years’ experience in training professionals for developing countries” (3-4 February, 2010).

2. II International Scientific-Practical Conference «Innovation processes in the Agricultural Sector». Issues of innovation techniques were the key discussed topics at the event in order to improve production methods, agro-product processing, implementation of applied research in agriculture sector as well as bio-resources and veterinary medicine.

3. The Anniversary Conference «Acute issues of the legal regulation of agrarian relations, land tenure, natural resources and environmental protection in agriculture». The participants discussed current problems related to the environmental, agricultural, land and natural resources law.

4. Every year the University hosts the International Congress «Health and Education in the XXI century: Scientific and applied aspects of the concept of health and healthy lifestyles» that has been organizing in partnership with Young Doctor’s Community since 1999. This Congress usually brings together over 400 doctors from different countries around the world.

5. Following-up the recommendations of the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education and summing up Year of Science and Innovations, UNESCO Moscow Office and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia in partnership with the International Foundation for Educational, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation held the Roundtable on “Role of Universities in Training Personnel for the Innovation Economy”. Representatives of the venture capital business and innovation sector of economics were invited to share their insights and predictions about the role of university education as a foundry talent for innovation economics with young innovators from the CIS countries.

A variety of topics and active participation of international scientists, professors and students at conferences and symposiums gives clear evidence PFUR is following of UNESCO strategic goals to achieve sustainability.