Grace Rayess, a professional TV presenter of the Lebanese television station ALJADEED, a teacher at Arts, Science and Technology University, is visiting Penza to attend All-Russian Media forum “mediaAccent” which is to open on 5th September.

The day before the guest from the Lebanon visited Penza State University and met with Aleksandr Gulyakov.

At the round table the University and partner-country representatives discussed the development of bilateral cooperation, in particular, they summarized the results of the PSU students’ internship in the Lebanese Republic which took place in April.

Nada Samaha, a teacher and Grace Rayess’ assistant, and Jad Abdel Nur, a master’s degree student of the Department of Journalism, Arts, Science and Technology University, arrived in Penza together with Grace.

The Rector expressed his gratitude to Grace Rayess for having organized a ten-days’ internship in the Lebanon for four students of the department “Journalism”, PSU.
 “Our students highly assessed this internship”, said A. Gulyakov.

“The main goal was that students could be able to pass the knowledge and experience, which they obtained while they were working on our TV channels, to their fellow students”, said Grace Rayess.

Grace also thanked the Rector for the chance for the students to gain new international professional experience: “Studying within the walls of the University differs from gaining practical experience in mass media, especially, in another country!”

The Lebanese guest advised the students to learn the English language more actively, as this would make internships abroad more efficient. A.D. Gulyakov supported the idea of organizing additional classes in English at University.

The students, participants of the internship, shared their impressions. “It was fantastic! During the whole internship we were able to make footage ourselves. We particularly remember working at the Female International Marathon, where we managed to communicate with the participants from different countries. We worked under different conditions – we were running in raincoats in the rain, hiding our cameras under the raincoats, and we were climbing up the roofs to shoot. It didn’t prevent us from making a good coverage! We visited TV channels, radio, met professional presenters. The organizers prepared a comprehensive cultural programme so that we could feel this great country!”, said Anastasia Chernysheva, one of the students.

Let’s recall, that the cooperation between PSU and the Lebanese Republic has been under way for more than two years. It started with the visit of the PSU representatives to the Lebanon on 5th July, 2017. Initiated by the National Arab-Russian Association (with Bashir Samaha as its Chairman) a meeting with Grace Rayess was organized. Sergei Ivanchin, Head of the Department of Student Affairs, and Adel Maqbol, Chairman of the Association of International Students of the Penza Region, took part in the meeting. In the course of negotiations, Grace Rayess demonstrated the willingness to visit PSU, deliver a public lecture and conduct a workshop for the students of the Department of “Journalism”. They also discussed the possibility of organizing internship for PSU students in information and educational organizations of the Lebanese Republic and of launching a joint print publication on relationships between the Russian Federation and the Lebanese Republic in the media space.

In November, 2017 Grace Rayess paid an official visit to PSU. The University representatives have visited the partner country a few times since then.