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Master classes of Liam Long, DG SCIC Senior Interpreter

On 17 – 19 November SCIT hosted Liam Long, a DG SCIC Senior Interpreter, who gave a series of master classes to the students. Despite its brevity, the visit turned out very productive, involving at least 4 hours of intensive work every day for each group. Under Liam Long’s supervision the students managed an impressive amount of work: making speeches, interpreting consecutively and simultaneously, analyzing their peers’ performance and giving them feedback. There is no doubt that Liam Long’s visit will strengthen the students’ determination in mastering the profession.

SCIT takes part in the III Recors’ Conference organized by the European Parliament in Brussels

On 13-14 November Sergey Goncharov, First Vice-Rector, Vladimir Khodyrev, member of St. Petersburg Board of Rectors and member of SCIT Board of Guardians, Ms Angelique Antonova, Deputy Director of the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation, took part in the conference Delivering Excellence in Conference Interpreting in Brussels. The conference was organized by the European Parliament for the Rectors of universities and Heads of conference interpreting training programs supported by the European Parliament.

The plenary speaker Olga Cosmidou, Director General of Directorate General for Interpretation and Conferences, announced the foundation of the International Consortium of Master’s Programs in Conference Interpreting (IMCI) where she invited Herzen University to join. IMCI is open to universities which guarantee quality of interpreter training, confirmed by the graduates’ employment in the international organizations of the European Union and the UN. The participants had a lively discussion about the cooperation between the international organizations and conference interpreting schools, including the requirements for language mediators in international bodies, and, accordingly, the quality criteria to be met by the institutions offering interpreting training programs and willing to establish cooperation with international organizations.

Within the conference framework First Vice-Rector Goncharov had a series of meetings with the EU officials. The meeting with Ms Walter-Drop, who is Ms. Cosmidou’s successor as Director General of the Directorate General for Interpretation and Conferences, was focused on the issues of cooperation between the European Parliament and Herzen University. Ms Walter-Drop confirmed that she is ready to maintain the level of cooperation with Herzen University. At the meeting with Mr Durand, Head of Multilingualism and Interpreter Training Support Unit at DG SCIC, he confirmed the European Commission would maintain the level of pedagogical assistance to the School despite the budgetary constraints. Mr. Chizhov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation in the European Union, also took part in the conference. During the meeting Mr Chizhov noted the high qualification of the School graduates working in the MFA of Russia and, particularly, in the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union. Mr Chizhov confirmed that the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union is ready to support the St Petersburg School of Interpreting and Translation of Herzen University in the European institutions. Several meetings with the heads of interpreting programs from Geneva University (Switzerland), Comillas University (Spain), La Laguna University (Spain), SISU (Shanghai, China) and others also took place on the margins of the event.

Herzen University for sustainable relations with Sorbonna

On 6 November Sergey Goncharov, Herzen First Vice-Rector, had a meeting with Tatiana Bodrova-Gogenmos, Director of ESIT, University of Sorbonna Paris-3. Both parties stressed the importance of signing the cooperation agreement between the universities to promote a wide range of international cooperation programs, to improve the quality of training and technical support. They also agreed that the pending MOU Universities Consortium conference to be held at Herzen University in April 2015 will be yet another step in building up the relations between Herzen and Sorbonna-Paris-3. Irina Aleexeva, SCIT Director, and Angelique Antonova, SCIT Deputy Director, also took part in the meeting.

Vladivostok: translation at the end of the earth

On 11–18 October the FarEasternFederalUniversity in Vladivostok hosted a number of translation-related events at its scenic campus on RusskyIsland, attended by SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva. The intensive programme included a lively and thought-provoking round-table discussion held on 13 October at the impressive Sopka Conference Hall (which has previously hosted the APEC Summit). The discussion, entitled ‘Training Highly Qualified Translators’ was attended by senior figures from the Shanghai International Studies University, including Chai Mingjiong, Xie Tianzhen and Lie Lejzhun, and attested to the ongoing strengthening of ties between SCIT and other member universities of the UN MoU network. Alexeeva gave a keynote speech entitled ‘Translation Didactics in Russia: The Eastern Vector’ which was followed by an open discussion which focused on the main factors affecting the translation industry in Russia. Alexeeva also met with Sergey Ivanets, Rector of the Far Eastern Federal University, and other academic staff to discuss the possibility of establishing a translation and interpreting school at the university.

In the days that followed, more than 100 teachers from the Far Eastern Federal University attended lectures and workshops given by Alexeeva on the subject of translation and interpreting teaching methodology, the highlight of which, entitled ‘Standing up for Russian’, focused on the mission of translators to safeguard and popularise the Russian language. A lively meeting between Alexeeva and final-year undergrad students also formed part of the programme.

SCIT assists in selecting interpreters for the President’s Administration and MFA of Kazakhstan

On 7 and 8 October SCIT Director Irina Alexeeva and Deputy Director Angelique Antonova visited Astana, Kazakhstan, with a mission to take part in selecting interpreters with English and German languages for the President Administration and MFA of Kazakhstan. The selection committee also included Chair Anarbek Karashev, MFA Executive Secretary, and Mr. Usen Suleimen, MFA Ambassador-at-Large. Five interpreters were selected out of 28 candidates. At the official meeting with Mr. Anarbek Krashev the issues of further cooperation between SCIT, Herzen University, and MFA of Kazakhstan in training conference interpreters were discussed. The visit was organized within the IFESCCO (the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation) grant activities.