Nikolai Mikhailovich, more than 500 delegates from 55 countries. How did you manage to gather so many people during the abolition of everything Russian?
Nikolai Kropachev: As you can see, despite the limitations of Russian culture that exist today, which unfortunately occur in different countries, in these same countries there is a great demand for the study of language, literature, culture and Russian history. At the same time, there were many more applications; This is another vivid example of how important and influential the Russian language is throughout the world.
Its university is popular among foreign citizens. How can you deserve so much trust?
Nikolay Kropachev: You are right, St. Petersburg State University has traditionally become the most popular higher education institution in Russia for foreign students. This year, only within the framework of the university’s independent selection of foreign citizens, around 5,700 applications were received, almost 15% more than in 2022. In recent years, the general competition for places within the government quota Russian is about 21 people per place. Of course, these results indicate the high quality and popularity of education provided by St. Petersburg State University. Today the university implements many educational programs with a foreign component. The choice is varied: “The Hungarian and German languages in the Austro-Hungarian cultural space”, “International management”, “Jurisprudence (with in-depth study of the Japanese language and Japanese law)”. More than 90 educational programs with a Chinese component alone are being implemented: these are “Jurisprudence with an in-depth study of the Chinese language and the laws of the People’s Republic of China” and many others.
Despite the fact that somewhere in the world Russian culture and language were simply abolished, the forum brought together more than 500 Russian philologists from 55 countries.
“RG” wrote about the unique experience of the St. Petersburg State University online school, which allows Russian-speaking schoolchildren from all over the world to obtain a Russian school certificate. She was supposed to start working on September 1. How was your first week of school?
Nikolay Kropachev: Yes, the online school of St. Petersburg State University is a project that is implemented with the support of the Government Office and the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. The first call for schoolchildren demonstrated the importance of this initiative: we received almost 300 applications from schoolchildren from 44 countries and the competition was for 2.5 people per place. The schoolchildren already met their teachers, uploaded their first works and even received comments about them, and the leaders held their first meetings with the parents. In addition, teachers of the online school of St. Petersburg State University provide consultations to students who will study according to a separate plan due to differences in time zones. I welcome children’s desire to learn and parents’ belief in the power and importance of giving their children a good Russian education. I would like to note that the training is carried out online according to the educational program approved in Russia and is free for all students thanks to extra-budgetary funds from St. Petersburg State University.
At the congress the most current topics of Russian science will be discussed. In particular, we will talk about the Russian language of our laws and legal documents. How important do you think this is today?
Nikolai Kropachev: St. Petersburg University drew attention to this problem several years ago, and our scientists, as part of multidisciplinary teams (linguists, lawyers, programmers, anthropologists), constantly research in search of solutions to the problems of understandability and certainty . of the language in the official sphere. This is also a legal problem, because if people do not understand the content of government documents, they may inadvertently break the law. And their decision cannot rest solely with those who draft legal documents, nor solely with citizens. Authors of legal acts should strive for clarity, and citizens should try to learn more about the language in which laws are written.
Let me remind you that St. Petersburg State University is actively involved in the work of the Government Commission on the Russian Language, which, among other things, is responsible for the creation of dictionaries, reference books and grammars that will set the norms of the literary language modern Russian, making them mandatory when the law requires the use of the state language. In my opinion, this is one of the most important government tasks today.
How, from your point of view, will the current congress go down in history? Why did you choose St. Petersburg as your headquarters and why did St. Petersburg State University become your base?
Nikolay Kropachev: This is, without exaggeration, the largest event in the field of teaching, scientific description and popularization of the Russian language, literature and culture around the world. This year, more than 500 people from 55 countries are taking part in the congress: this is a huge number of Russian philologists. I think this is enough to become an important page in history. 20 years ago, on the initiative of the doctor of philology, professor and then rector of our university, an outstanding specialist in the Russian language Lyudmila Verbitskaya, the MAPRYAL congress was held for the first time in St. Petersburg. Today, almost every fifth student of St. Petersburg State University came to study at our university from another country, these students receive their education here and then become conductors of Russian culture abroad. The university also has 112 Russian language centers, represented in 50 countries. All this allows us to act as co-organizers of such an important event of global importance: the MAPRYAL Congress.
