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.