. Inauguration of Russian Language Classes at FUUAST: A great and historical step
Dr. Syed Mehboob
Economic and Political Analyst
http//: www.thenewslark.com
Language is an effective way of communication and learning any foreign language plays very important role in paving way to understand the culture, norms, values of concerned country and bring both countries and its people closer, remove barriers and misunderstanding and paves the way for strengthening bilateral ties.
Global Power scenario is changing and American and Western Monopoly is being challenged and new powers are emerging. Russia is now an important global power and despite sanctions imposed by USA and EU has shown great resilience and it not only survived but became an important player in global power game. International power players cannot ignore it.
Russia is the largest country in the world encompassing one eighth of the earth’s inhabitable earth mass. Russia extends across eleven time zones and shares land boundaries with fourteen countries. It is the world’s ninth most populous country, it is also world’s ninth largest economy in terms of GDP nominal and sixth largest in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).Its mineral and energy resources are the world’s largest and its figures for oil production and natural gas production ran high globally.It has an area of 17,098,246 sqr km which is twice larger than USA, the largest among the 234 countries of the world, an 11% of the total earth mass. It is permanent member of United Nation Security Council (USNC) and enjoys veto power.
26th March,2024 was a historical day when there was inauguration of Russian Language classes at Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST).
For this revolutionary and historic step both Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST) management including Dr. Zabta Khan Shinwari Vice Chancellor, Dr. Ali Asgher Dashti HOD International Relations Department and Consul General of Russian Federation in Karachi, Mr. Andrey V. Fedorov, his worthy staff including Mr. Dmitry Petrov, Mr. Pavel Iamanov, Mr. Ruslan M. Prokhorov, Mr. Stanislav and others are all praiseworthy whose sincere efforts brought this highly beneficial initiative. Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology is providing education to mostly lower middle-class youth at a very affordable fee charges enabling them to acquire higher education. These lower middle-class youth cannot afford highly expensive elite institutes and, in that sense, FUUAST is rendering valuable services for Pakistan. Now this historical step of starting Russian Language course is another feather on its hat and this will open new opportunities for our youth (Insha Allah).
This Russian language Centre at FUUAST is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, a language laboratory and other facilities which enable students to learn Russian Language with the help and support of modern technology. This educational center is part of a large-scale project of the Russian Federal Agency, Rossotrudnichestvo (Russian House), a government body of the Russian Federation responsible for International cooperation in education culture and on humanitarian issues. As part of the departmental project of Rossotrudnichestvo, which started last year, it is envisaged to create centers for additional education and modernize existing centers for studying the Russian language in all corners of the world.
At the first stage, two centers will be equipped in 16 countries, three of which are located in Islamic Republic of Pakistan. All centers are created in a single stylized silver red design. Moreover, each classroom is an individual design solution. For each center, based on the individual characteristics of the premises, a separate design solution was created. Based on an individual project in Russia, high-tech educational furniture was manufactured from a leading Russian manufacturer. Each Russian language class is also equipped with a wide-format multimedia panel, educational process. The Russian side not only provided manufacturing and purchase of the necessary equipment, but also paid for the delivery to the relevant country with the subsequent dispatch of specialists to assemble classroom on a turnkey basis.
The opening of the first Russian Language Center in Pakistan in the Holy month of Ramadhan is a good and worthy omen. This auspicious event was attended by Consul General of Russia in Karachi His Excellency Mr. Andrey Fedorov, Vice Chancellor of the FUUAST Professor Zabta Khan Shinwari, Head of the Russian House in Pakistan Mr. Ruslan Prokhorov, Member of the Provincial Assembly Kemari Mr. Asif Khan, Chairman Department of International Relations Dr. Asghar Dashti, Dr. Syed Mehboob Senior Economic and Political Analysis and Senior Research Editor, the News Lark, Karachi and others.
A new functional educational space on Karachi campus of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology will become an aggregator platform for the ideas and projects that will contribute to the further popularization of the Russian language and culture, and promotion of youth and educational cooperation between the two countries.
In the winter of 2023, a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) was signed between the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology and the Russian House in Pakistan ( Friendship House in Karachi), which identified the main areas of cooperation in education, science and culture. One of the areas of cooperation was Russian Language classes for students of the faculty of International Relations, which were organized in the Russian House. This year, six university graduates who studied Russian Language last year received scholarships from the Government of the Russian Federation and will begin studying in Russian in the Fall 2024.
Currently, the Russian House in Pakistan and the leadership of the University are working to attract Russian language teachers from specialized Russian universities to work in Karachi, which will allow teaching Russian in the new resource center to be taken to a qualitatively new level, all this will significantly expand the opportunities for studying the Russian language, and therefor increase the chances of receiving a scholarship from the Russian Government through the Russian House. In April, 2024, Insha Allah resource centers will be opened in the cities of Sargodha and Lahore in the Punjab province |