Results of "Penza-Flensburg"online meetings

On September 25, the final "Penza-Flensburg" online meeting took place, which summed up the results of the work on September 23-24. The meeting was opened by Aleksandr Guliakov, Rector of Penza State University, who welcomed all the participants and thanked them for their active work, despite the difficult epidemiological situation. Aleksandr Guliakov emphasized: “It should be especially noted that our communication and our cooperation are implemented on the principles of mutual respect, equality and tolerance. It is this basis of the dialogue that allows us to confidently develop our cooperation, involving an increasing number of participants." Special words of gratitude were said to Peter Lorenzen, who was at the origin of the Penza-Flensburg cooperation, and to Swetlana Krätzschmar, ex-President of Flensburg.

Petra Stöckl, regional plenipotentiary of the German Embassy in the Penza region, welcomed the participants of the online meeting and noted that the cooperation of Penza State University and Flensburg partners is a vivid example of a successful dialogue at the level of cities, even if they are not twin cities. In addition, Petra Stöckl expressed confidence that the German Embassy in Moscow will continue to support the implementation of joint projects in the future. Then Dr. Christoph Jansen, President of the University of Applied Sciences, said his welcoming words. He thanked everyone who is actively involved in the development of the joint cooperation, and emphasized that such results were achieved thanks to trust in each other and communication based on the principles of mutual respect, equality and tolerance.

Swetlana Krätzschmar, ex-President of Flensburg, said in her speech that the experience of cooperation between Penza and Flensburg will be presented in the materials of the Russian-German Year of Research and Educational Partnerships 2018–2019, and also thanked the participants of the meeting for their active joint work. Simone Lange, Mayor of Flensburg, and Hannes Fuhrig, President of Flensburg, also addressed the audience with a welcoming speech. They especially emphasized the importance of maintaining and strengthening contacts in the difficult times of the pandemic, and also expressed their hope that the following year the meeting would be held in face-to-face format. In addition, they reported that Swetlana Krätzschmar had received the official status of Penza-Flensburg cooperation coordinator on behalf of the city administration.

In the second part of the meeting, brief results of the agreements reached were presented. Gleb Sintsov, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of PSU, and Julia-Karin Patrut, Vice-President for Academic Affairs of EUF, summed up the results of the video meeting held on September 23:

• The main issue on the agenda was the discussion of key issues on the opening of the joint master's degree programme "Languages, culture, media" in 45.04.01 "Philology". During the meeting, all the principal provisions of the agreement were approved of, and a schedule for preparing the necessary educational and methodological documentation was determined. It is planned that all documents will have been prepared and agreed upon by December 1, 2020, and the first enrollment of applicants for the joint degree programme will begin in the next academic year. At PSU, the joint programme will be implemented at the Department of Foreign Languages and Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages (Head of the Department E.Yu.Aleshina), the Faculty of History, Languages and Literature, the Institute of Teacher Education. The training will be performed in English and German.
• The activities planned within the framework of the joint international project DIREPA DICOME, which received grant support from the Federal Foreign Office, were discussed and agreed upon. As a result of the project implementation, a collective monograph will be prepared and published in the PSU printing house.
• An agreement was reached on implementing joint email projects this academic year.

Sergey Vasin, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation at PSU, and Antje Labes, Professor of the University of Applied Sciences, coordinator of cooperation with PSU, briefly presented the results of the online meeting on September 23:
• Hinrich Uellendahl, Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Instrumentation and Marine Technologies, and Sergey Golobokov, Associate Professor of the Department of Electrical and Power Engineering, presented their research projects, and it was decided to continue the exchange of information, scientific publications in order to develop joint research projects.
• Dr. Sven Bertel, Professor of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Head of the Center for Interaction, Visualization and Shared Use, presented research and educational projects of his team. Aleksandr Tychkov presented areas of scientific research of the Laboratory of Biomedical and Cognitive Technologies. In the course of discussion, the colleagues outlined further steps to develop cooperation in this area of scientific research. It was decided to hold videoconferences in order to discuss in more detail possible joint projects in the field of IT technologies.
•An agreement was reached on filing a joint application to DFG and RFBR by prof. Antje Labes and prof. I.Ya Moiseeva in microbiology, the format and schedule of work on the application have been determined.
• In October this year, the results of the student competition of research projects on environmental topics will be summed up, and an application will be re-submitted for activities within the Green Campus Green City project to the Federal Foreign Office.
• An agreement was reached on admitting Anna Kuznetsova, Associate Professor, for a three-month internship within the programme of the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD under the guidance of prof. Antje Labes.

Aleksandr Mitroshin, Director of the PSU Medical Institute, Henning Stolze, chief physician of the DIAKO neurological clinic, Guido Wölk, medical doctor at Malteser Hospital, summed up the results of the video conference, which was held on September 24. They noted the importance of holding such joint events, since within the framework of the videoconference, important issues were discussed on organizing treatment for patients with COVID-infection in Flensburg and Penza. In addition, within the framework of the meeting, an agreement was reached to accept students of the Medical Institute for internships in January 2021.

All the participants thanked the cooperation coordinators in each partner organization, stressing the importance of their coordination activities. At Penza State University, the cooperation coordinator is Tatyana Razuvaeva, Head of International Projects Department, at Europa-Universität Flensburg - Julia-Karin Patrut, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, at Flensburg University of Applied Sciences - prof. Antje Labes, at DIACO Medical Center - prof. Henning Stolze, at Malteser Hospital - Dr. Guido Wölk. The overall cooperation coordination in Flensburg is carried out by Swetlana Krätzschmar.

In conclusion, it was decided to hold the congress in 2021 in a combined format - some of the events will be held face-to-face in Flensburg (September 20-23, 2021), some events will be held in an online format.