On 20 of February a Herzen University delegation consisting of Rector Sergey Tarasov, Vice-Rector for International Cooperation and Internationalization Sergey Sheremet and Director of the St. Petersburg  School of Conference Interpreting and Translation Angelique Antonova paid a visit to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  At the meeting with Alexander Alimov, Director of the Department for Multilateral Humanitarian Cooperation and Cultural Relations, the parties discussed the prospects of cooperation in the extensive program of promotion of the Russian language and culture abroad carried out by this department. SCIT Director Angelika Antonova also spoke in detail about the university’s participation in the international celebration of Russian Language Day, celebrated annually on June 6, and about the regularly organized seminars of the professional upgrading for translators of international organizations working with the Russian language. Alexander Alimov noted that the format of such seminars developed by SCIT is of great interest for teachers of the Russian language abroad. The Russian MFA is ready to support and develop this project, and the SCIT staff , together with the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to UNESCO, are actively working to organize a new seminar “Russian Verbal Culture as a source of Humor in modern Russian public Discourse” in June 2025. Moreover, colleagues from the Asia-Pacific region also showed interest in the seminars, and the Russian MFA voiced a request to organize similar seminars on the Russian socio-political discourse for translators and teachers of the Russian language in China.

The guests from St. Petersburg also had a meeting with Sergey Gritsai, Director of the Linguistic Support Department in the Russian MFA, where prospects for cooperation between the department and the university were discussed. Rector Sergey Tarasov invited Sergey Gritsai to attend the diploma awarding ceremony for the SCIT graduates in June 2025, and also spoke about regular master classes, both in-person and remote,  held by the Linguistic Support Department specialists for the SCIT students. There are many SCIT graduates among these specialists, as 20 SCIT graduates have worked or are currently working at the Russian MFA. During the conversation, the parties agreed that in order to increase the effectiveness of training, veterans of the MFA  translation service should also be involved in giving master classes. We hope that this useful practice will soon be implemented.