The closing of VII Penza-Flensburg Congress took place in Penza State University on Thursday, 12th September.

At the round table, the participants summed up the results of a three-day intensive work, which gave concrete results and allowed expanding the boundaries of the cooperation.

“The work of the Congress was very productive”, said Aleksandr Guliakov, Rector of PSU.

“We are summing up the results of the Congress, but our collaborative work is going on”, said Sergei Vasin, Vice Rector for Research and Innovation.

Professor Vasin also congratulated Swetlana Krätzschmar with being conferred the title of Honorary Doctor of PSU.

“It is a significant event in my life! Thank you for the interesting work which we have done in Penza. It was important for us to strengthen relations with the German Embassy in Russia, to convince them of the importance of our work. Communicating with the representative of the Embassy, Frau Stöckl, who participated in our Congress, was, of course, productive and efficient. The resources represented by the German side can be used to develop important goals of improving professional abilities of the next generations”, said Swetlana Krätzschmar.

The productivity of collaborative work, according to Sergei Vasin, depends on mutual interest. “There is understanding and trust between us. The reason for our successful cooperation is the support of the organizations in our consortium”, he stated.

Gleb Sintsov, Vice Rector for International Affairs, reminded the participants of the Congress intensive programme. “Some events need further reflection. The event concentration doesn’t allow drawing conclusions at once”, shared his opinion Professor Sintsov. All the Congress events were divided into three thematic sections: the Humanities, medicine, and engineering.

Together with the Institute of Teacher Education, the presentation of projects implemented with European Flensburg University was organized, and the seminar “Cross-cultural aspects of literature” was held. Particularly important were the negotiations and discussion of the road map to launch the joint master’s degree programme at PSU and EFU “Language. Culture. Media”. The arrangements have been made, and the teachers from the department “Foreign languages and methods of teaching foreign languages” are planned to visit EFU. The open lecture by Swetlana Krätzschmar “Germany and Russia in Europe” was of great interest to the audience.

The German representatives expressed their interest in developing the cooperation after getting acquainted with the project on the innovative greenhouse "Green Campus". Working meetings and scientific discourses were also held with researchers from the Polytechnic Institute.

A block of lectures on medical topics for students, teachers of the Medical Institute and medical practitioners, a meeting with the Health Minister of the Penza Region Alexandr Nikishin, visits to a number of medical organizations made the work of the Congress in the medical field very intensive. The guests from Germany took part in the VII International Research Conference "Current Problems of Medical Science and Education" dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Medical Institute.

“Scientific work is another priority. We discussed and determined the application concept and identified research themes for joint participation in contests and grants”, added Vice-Rector G.V. Sintsov on the negotiations results.

Rector Alexandr Guliakov informed about the negotiations results on the creation of a joint Russian-German clinic in Penza: “We had negotiations with Abderrahman Machraoui in one of the private clinics in Penza on the creation of a joint Russian-German clinic in our city. We have reached preliminary agreements, and have made a decision to create a working commission for a detailed study of the issue”.

The next Congress will take place in Flensburg in 2020.