President of the SUSU Association of International Students Uvindu Wijeweera and activists of the South Ural Association of International Students Gulnara Hodzhieva, Maral Suleymanova (Turkmenistan), Mulkham Shakhin (Syria), Al Uleimat Adnan Amer Ahmed (Jordan), Sanjana Prabod (Sri Lanka), and SUSU junior researcher Rev Waskaduwe Siri Sarana Thero (Sri Lanka) successfully passed the selection round and will participate in the Eurasia Global International Youth Forum. The forum will be held August 12th through 18th in Orenburg.
The main organizer of the Forum is the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs; the competition is held following a Decree by the President of the Russian Federation. More than 800 people are taking part in the forum, with 500 thereof being young international students from Russian universities.
Throughout the forum, the young specialists – the best representatives of Russia’s youth associations and those of friendly countries – will discuss key issues and issues of student government, the development of youth startups, and much more. The business program of the forum will include such discussion platforms as Social Design, Youth Startups, Culture and Art, and History and New Media. Participants of the form are actively involved in the organization of the discussion platforms and in bringing in new delegates to participate in them.
President of the South Ural Association of International Students (SUSU) Uvindu Wijeweera:
“This forum is a unique space where we can exchange knowledge with representatives of Associations of International Students in other Russian cities and gain new knowledge about working with students from foreign countries.
For me, as the president of the South Ural Association of International Students, participation in such forums is very important, since we are planning on organizing a similar forum in the South Ural region in the future.
The South Ural Association of International Students is organizing a three-day forum called Ural Fest from November 14th through November 16th of 2019, which will be attended by representatives of Associations of International Students from Chelyabinsk universities and universities in Moscow, Tyumen, Yekaterinburg, and Tomsk. The team of the South Ural Association of International Students came to the forum with the goal of exchanging information. Here, the members of our team saw with their own eyes how such forums are organized. This is invaluable experience, which will definitely be useful in the future.
I delivered two presentations at the forum. The first was devoted to the experience of SUSU in organizing work with foreign students. In the presentation, I showed how SUSU unites students from 52 countries around the world and what programs it uses to unite foreign and local students and strengthen friendship and cooperation between them. I also made a presentation about my native Sri Lanka: the development of tourism on the island and what can be of particular interest to visitors to the island.
During our team’s work, TV crews were covering the Eurasia global forum, we participated in a round table, and we talked a lot about the future of young people, development of international education, professions of the future, innovative technologies, and politics.
Personally, I was very interested in seminars on new professions that will be in demand in the digital world. Critical thinking and ability to work with information will be especially important for specialists of the new age.”
Activist of the Association of International Students (representing Turkmenistan) Gulnar Hodzhieva:
"Participation in the forum is especially important for me. In autumn of 2019, SUSU will host Ural Fest – a big-scale youth forum; we are now actively preparing for it. Participation in youth forums of this format and learning from their experience is especially important for the activists of the Association of International Students, and for me in particular.
According to specialists in this field, Eurasia Global is one of the best forums. Here, I can obtain invaluable organizational knowledge, develop my leadership qualities and ability to speak with people, and, especially, with foreigners.
At the forum, what was most interesting to me were the issues of international relations, especially educational exchange programs between universities, international tourism, organizing events for international students, and studying foreign languages. I am planning on attending seminars in these fields.”
During the forum, the South Ural Association of International Students (SUSU) will attend various forums and master classes; the students will learn a lot. Now, the Association of International Students is armed with new skills for organizing Ural Fest and will be able to implement all of the new developmental trends into the work of the SUSU AIS.