Between October 7-13, 2023, "International East-West Russian Language Week" events were held at our University with the support of Ibn Haldun University, Russian University of Friendship of Peoples (RUDN) and Rossotrudnichestvo. Many researchers and experts, including academics, teachers and diplomats from Russia and around the world, attended the face-to-face events at our university.
On Wednesday, October 11th, at the beginning of the opening ceremony, Prof. Dr. İrfan Gündüz, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of our University, started his welcoming remarks by stating that he was proud to host such an event. Referring to the number of Russian students studying at our university and the number of students studying Russian under the roof of the School of Languages, Prof. Gündüz concluded his speech by mentioning that these students are more important than all political agreements and interests in the eyes of Ibn Haldun University.
In his welcoming remarks, Rector Prof. Dr. Atilla Arkan mentioned that the neighborly cooperation between Turks and Russians has been going on for centuries and stated that the cooperation between our University and RUDN University will make significant contributions to the relations between Turkish and Russian nations. Prof. Arkan concluded his speech by emphasizing that within the scope of the International East - West Russian Language Week activities, topics such as Language Education and Its Importance in the 21st Century, Good Language Education Practices, Modern Measurement and Evaluation Methods and Artificial Intelligence and its Effects on Language Learning Process will be evaluated one by one.
Celile Eren Ökten, Deputy Minister of National Education of the Republic of Turkey, commemorated Russian literary figures such as Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Gogol and Tolstoy, who left a rich legacy to world literature, and emphasized their contribution to the formation of not only political but also cultural and literary ties between Turkey and Russia. Stating that they are open to mutual experience sharing with academics and teachers at our University within the scope of the Russian Language Week, Ökten concluded his speech with the wishes of a peaceful and beautiful future where we get to know and understand each other more closely with the Russian people and sign productive works.
Pavel Shevtsov Anatolyevich, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, emphasized that the International East - West Russian Language Week is a unique event that brings together Russian language teachers from Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and concluded his speech by saying that the Russian Language Week will provide an opportunity for mutually beneficial contacts, will contribute to the development of scientific and academic exchanges, and is an opportunity for the meeting of experts in the field of Russian language education and the promotion of Russian culture.
The opening speeches also touched upon the recent events in Palestine, condemning the attacks targeting innocent people and wishing an end to the persecution and suffering of Palestinians as soon as possible.
During the event, which aims to improve the teaching methods of the Russian language at all levels from primary to higher education, to support inter-university cooperation and to organize Russian language education abroad, various Russian publishing houses introduced contemporary teaching materials and presented new and effective teaching resources to the participants. The event shared ideas for inter-university cooperation and aimed to make Russian language education more effective by taking advantage of the experiences of different universities.
The participants of the International East - West Russian Language Week, where workshops and sessions were organized to improve the quality of Russian language teaching, improve students' language skills and strengthen international cooperation by bringing together language education experts from different countries, also had the opportunity to improve their skills in preparing and conducting Russian linguodidactic tests for different categories of foreigners.
For Turkish university students, open lectures by leading Russian scholars and master classes on the use of artificial intelligence-based digital assistants in Russian language learning were organized.
The International East-West Russian Language Week ended on Friday, October 13, 2023 with a certificate ceremony.
