The First Forum of the Federation of Russian and Arab Universities was held under the auspices of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Beirut (the Republic of Lebanon) on 19 – 20 February 2018. The forum was attended by more than 100 representatives of Russian and Arab universities.

The opening ceremony of the forum was marked by the welcoming remarks of Sultan Abu Orabi, Secretary General of the Association of Arab Universities, Hussein Al-Haj Hassan, Minister of Industry of Lebanon, Aleksandr Zasypkin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Lebanon, Olga Vasilieva, Minister of Education and Science of Russia, and Viktor Sadovnichy, President of the Russian Union of Rectors and Rector of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University.

“For several years, Penza State University has been training international students from Arab countries. We intend to increase the number of Arab students. We also plan to promote our cooperation with Arab universities and organise internships of Russian students at high-tech medical institutions in Lebanon,” Aleksandr Gulyakov commented in the interview for Grace Rayess, TV presenter of Al Jadeed television station.

Rector of Penza State University participated in the round-table discussion “Strengthening academic relations between Russian and Arab universities” and presented the report in which he expressed PSU willingness to cooperate fully with higher education institution of Arab countries.

During the forum, Aleksandr Gulyakov held talks with universities rectors from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Yemen, Algeria, and Lebanon. These negotiations resulted in signing framework agreements with Lebanese International University (Lebanon), University of Science and Technology (Yemen), Menoufia University (Egypt), and National Arab-Russian Association.

Moreover, PSU Rector talked to Abdullah Al-Dais, Ambassador of Yemen to Lebanon, and reported that more than 20 students from Yemen study at PSU. For his part, Abdullah Al-Dais thanked Aleksandr Gulyakov for admitting students from Yemen and noted the high level of Russian education.

The Federation of Russian and Arab Universities was established in May 2017 based on the agreement signed between the Association of Arab Universities and the Russian Union of Rectors at M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The idea of establishing the Federation originated from mutual interest in encouraging cooperation in the sphere of education and joint academic mobility programmes between higher education institutions from the Russian Federation and Arab countries.