From 7th to 10th October, 2019, Moscow State University hosted XV French Language Teachers’ Congress (Assises Universitaires du Français). Since 2004 the event has been held under the aegis of the Embassy of France in Moscow, French Institute in Russia and Campus France in cooperation with the leading universities of the Russian Federation. This year, E.A. Shibanova and L.V. Shvareva, associate professors at the department “Foreign Languages and Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages”, were invited to participate in the work of the Congress.

The official opening ceremony took place on 7th October. It was attended by Yu.A. Mazei, Vice-Rector – Head of the Department for International Cooperation; Sylvie Bermann, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Russian Federation; Yu.P. Zinchenko, President of the Russian Academy of Education, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University; N.K. Garbovsky, Director of Higher School of Translation/Interpreting. Among the honorary guests there also were Beatrice Hayat, Director of Campus France agency, and Fabrice Russo, advisor on cooperation and culture of the Embassy of France.

The agenda of the Congress of Russian universities’ francophone included the topic: “The mark in methods of teaching French as a foreign language: on the way to evolution”. The participants of the event were more than 250 French teachers from a hundred Russian universities, French teachers and experts, as well as representatives of French higher school.

XV Congress of French language teachers was conducted within the walls of Moscow State University in order to promote the French vector of the university’s international cooperation, to expand research and educational diplomacy between the two countries, to launch new research collaborations, programmes of students’ and academic exchanges not only between Russia and France, but also to attract participation of universities from other French-speaking countries.