On September 8, 2023, a roundtable discussion was held at the Faculty of History, Philology, Management and Law on the results of the project “Creation of the Center for the Study of Russian Language and Culture on the basis of Gampaha Wickramarachchi University of Indigenous Medicine”. The round table was attended by the Rector of I. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University I.V. Kozhanov, representatives of the Rector's Office V.N. Ivanov and S.V. Ilyina, Head of the Department for Scientific and Innovative Work A.A. Kirillov, First Deputy Minister of Education A.P. Lukshin, Head of the Representative department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in the Chuvash Republic A.A. Pogodeikin, teachers and students of the faculty. Results of work of the Center's staff in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for the implementation of the project, as well as the future prospects of the Center for the Study of Russian Language and Culture of I.Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University were discussed. In his speech, Rector of the University I.V. Kozhanov identified the Center's activities as one of the leading areas of international cooperation and expressed gratitude to those who participated in the implementation of projects to promote and popularize the Russian language abroad.
First Deputy Minister of Education A.P. Lukshin stressed that Yakovlev University is engaged in important and necessary work on teaching Russian to foreign citizens, which allows building relations between countries and bringing them to a new level of development. The Head of the Representative department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in the Chuvash Republic A.A. Pogodeikin noted that the opening of the Center for the Study of Russian Language and Culture in Sri Lanka is the beginning of a great joint journey and wished the staff of the I. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University further success in implementing such projects. Vice-Rector for Scientific and Innovative Work V.N. Ivanov and Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs S.V. Ilyina noted the undoubted importance of this federal-level project for the university and expressed their gratitude and warm wishes to its performers. The head of the Department for Scientific and Innovative Work A.A. Kirillov indicated that the university will continue to participate in such projects. The head of the Center for the Study of Russian Language and Culture A.D. Akhvanderova thanked the administration of the university for its assistance in implementing not the first project to promote the Russian language abroad with the support of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and shared further plans for the development of open Centers of open education in Russian (School No. 32 named after Zholon Mamytov in Kyrgyzstan, Andijan State Pedagogical Institute in Uzbekistan, Gampaha Wickramarachchi University of Indigenous Medicine).
Teachers Zhurina M.I., Nikitina A.V., Maksimycheva M.S. shared their impressions about their stay in the Republic of Sri Lanka. They said that about 150 Sri Lankan students studied at the courses of additional education, focusing on the subtleties of learning the Russian language taking into account cultural characteristics of students from Sri Lanka, peculiarities of the grammatical structure of the Sinhalese language when teaching Russian as a foreign language, told about the attitude of young Lankans to Russian literature and culture, shared their impressions about the beauty and originality of an island state. The teachers expressed their desire to take part in such projects.
The moderator of the round table was the Dean of the Faculty of History, Philology, Management and Law E.A. Ilyina, thanks to whom the event was held at a high level.