From January 12 to 24 the city of Sochi, the resort capital of Russia, hosted the 34th International Festival of KVN teams "KiViN-2023". For the first time, international students from Penza State University, the KVN International Team, which includes students from Jordan, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, India, Armenia and Tajikistan, became its participants. The students received the right to represent their alma mater and the whole region after they became champions of the Official League of KVN "Sura".

In 2023, about 500 teams from different regions of Russia, as well as from neighboring countries, took part in the Festival. By tradition, the contest part of "KiViN - 2023" consists of two rounds. All registered teams take part in the first round of the contest, which allocates the teams in the KVN leagues for the coming year. The teams that have passed the editorial selection get into the second round.

The KVN International Team successfully passed the first round, having received an "increased rating": now the students will be able to spend the current year in one of the KVN central leagues. For the students, this was a real victory: “We are incredibly happy! 176 teams out of all the declared ones received an increased rating, and to be among them is the result of hard work and the fulfillment of the dream of each of us. We managed to communicate with the editors of the Festival, KVN legends, including Sangadzhi Tarbaev, Leonid Kuprido, Mikhail Marfin, Evgeny Donskikh. And, of course, we walked around Sochi, made friends with other teams from different parts of Russia and would like to come back here again in order to climb one step higher and get into the second round,” PSU international students shared their impressions.