Russian Association of Leading Universities and Trianon Dialogue at RISA Convention

On October 22d MGIMO hosted a conference entitled «Academic Diplomacy. The place and the role of the leading Russian universities» organised by the Russian Association of Leading Universities and French-Russian Trianon Dialogue. The event happened within the framework of the 12th RISA Convention.

The major topic for the discussion was the role of academic community in improving international civil society dialogue. The Conference included three sessions.

The opening session «Track Two Diplomacy and the Dialogue of Civil Societies», in fact, united the representatives of five dialogues. Among the speakers were Anatoly Torkunov, MGIMO Rector, co-Chair of the Trianon Dialogue, Ernesto Ferlenghu, president of Confundustria Russia, co-Chair of the Russian-Italian Civil Society Dialogue Forum, Nobuo Shimotomai, professor at Hosei University, author of the book entitled «Russian-Japanese Parallel History», Inna Tsoi, Chief of the Directorate of the Russia — Republic of Korea Dialogue Forum, Thomas Spazier, Counselor at the Embassy of Austria in Russia, Olivier Kempf, founder of La Vigie analytical edition, researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Studies (France) and Caroline Galacteros, director at Geopragma think-tank. The session was moderated by Artem Malgin, MGIMO Vice-Rector, programme coordinator of the Trianon Dialogue.

The discussion was focused on the place of dialogue mechanisms in track two diplomacy and their efficiency, the objectives of the existing dialogues and the role of universities in their agenda.

The second session «Beyond University — the New Role of the University. Experience of Russia and France» gathered the representatives of leading universities and educational experts. The participants shared their vision of the role of universities in the modern international context. The presentations were delivered by Sergey Andryushin, Vice-Rector for International Cooperation at St. Petersburg State University, Sebastien Leoncel, Director of European and International Development at the National Conservatory for Arts and Crafts in Paris (CNAM), Boris Zhelezov, Deputy-Director at the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Caroline Lehno, Deputy-Director for International Relations at the Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po Strasbourg), Viktoria Panova, Vice-Rector for International Rlations at the Far Eastern Federal University, Marina Petrova, Director of the MGIMO Endowment, Anne de Tinguy, professor at the Center for International Studies of Sciences Po (CERI Sciences Po), Igor Bartsits, Director fo the Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service at RANEPA, Vera Vishnyakova, head of the School of Foreign Regional Studies at HSE-University.

The final session, organised by the ASEAN—Russia Forum on Education and RANEPA, was a platform for discussing international educational cooperation, which often serves as a mechanism to iron out differences between countries.

The sessions was opened by MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov and his counterpart from RANEPA Vladimir Mau. Among the speakers of the session were Zoya Zaitseva, QS Regional Director for Eastern Uerope and Central Asia, Anna Kuznetsova, Children’s Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation, Kyi Shwin, Rector of Yangon University of Foreign Languages, Javier Torres, Adviser on Education at the Embassy of Spain in Russia, Ekaterina Beresneva, Deputy Executive Director at the Alliance of Russian and Spanish Universities, Walter Ferrara, First Counselor at the Embassy of Italy in Moscow, and other experts in international educational cooperation.