Facing pressure from the West, Russian universities partner with Chinese peers

Collaborations between institutions in China and Russia flourish as Ukraine war and tensions freeze academic ties with US and Europe

Growing bilateral trade and demand for bilingual specialists in business, science and technical fields also spur new joint programmes

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China is home to 21 joint institutions with Russian universities, according to data from the Chinese Ministry of Education. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 12:00pm, 5 Aug 2023

Russian universities are looking to work with their counterparts in China as the war in Ukraine freezes academic ties with the US and Europe.

In one of the latest collaborations, Moscow’s Synergy University announced a partnership with Shantou University in southern China’s Guangdong province to train students with expertise in international trade as well as the Chinese and Russian languages.

According to Russian state news agency Sputnik, 35 Russian students are expected to enrol in the new dual-degree programme in September. After two years in Moscow, they will move to Shantou, where they will study political economy, creative entrepreneurship and international trade in Russian, Chinese and English.

Artem Vasiliev, the university’s rector, told Sputnik that the programme was launched to meet demand created by booming bilateral trade.

“We are now witnessing rapid growth in Russian-Chinese trade, and therefore specialists in this field are needed,” Vasiliev was quoted as saying by Sputnik’s Chinese website.

“Our new programme is aimed at training such people – specialists with a business education background and bilingualism in Russian and Chinese.”