From May 27th to June 1st, 2018, the NAFSA Conference & Exhibition, an annual conference on international education, was held in Philadephia (USA). For the fourth time, NUST MISIS representatives took part in the conference as part of the joint stand of the Competitiveness Enhancement Program of Leading Russian Universities among Global Research and Education Centers. The University’s representatives also held business meetings with current and potential partners.
The NAFSA Conference & Exhibition is one of the world`s largest educational forums, bringing together more than 10,000 experts from 3,500 universities from over 100 different countries. The key topic of this 70th anniversary conference was “Diverse Voices, Shared Commitment”.
Experts in various fields of science and education spoke at the conference. Laura Bush, a former First Lady of the United States and human rights activist, Bill Nye, an American science and education personality, and journalist Terry Gross were among the keynote speakers at the Conference.
Employees of the NUST MISIS Office of International Academic Mobility held meetings with representatives of universities from nine different countries.
In the meetings, the University outlined potential cooperation agreements. The conclusion of a dual degree diploma program was discussed with representatives from Paris-Saclay, and a student exchange program as part of the Erasmus+ program was discussed with the Dresden University of Technology.
As part of the various negotiations, two scientific & pedagogical employees from the Warsaw University of Technology will come to NUST MISIS this August. In the future, the parties are planning to develop joint educational programs in English.
Cooperation in the field of science and education was discussed with a number of Chinese universities as well: CDTU (Chengdu) University, Jiangsu University, and Shenzhen Polytechnic University. American universities like Brown University, Northeastern University, and the University of Georgia expressed interest in NUST MISIS’s scientific developments and educational programs.
Cooperation plans with Indian universities, who were participating in the conference for the first time, were also discussed. NUST MISIS will sign several memorandums of understanding in the near future and has plans for further interaction with potential partners.
“The NAFSA Conference is an effective tool for the development of international cooperation, as well as an event for Russian universities participating in the
5-100 Project, including NUST MISIS. This year we have managed to meet with almost all our international partners and communicate with new ones. NAFSA-2018 also presented a very interesting business program. Representatives of several Russian universities participating in the5-100 Project delivered speeches during the session devoted to Russian education. I believe that in the near future we will also be making presentations at NAFSA about our experience in science, education, and brand building”, commented Vasif Faradzhov, leading specialist at the NUST MISIS Office of International Academic Mobility.
In addition, THE Ranking representatives held an event as part of the NAFSA Conference where its representatives announced the results of the ranking on academic reputation of universities. NUST MISIS again saw significant growth, rising from 648th to 558th.
“We are recognized every year more and more both among Eurasian and North and South American universities. With full confidence, we can say that the NUST MISIS brand is getting stronger and more noticeable. And it is not surprising when such a well-coordinated and strong team works together”, Faradzhov added.
