Institute for Asian and African Studies at HSE University-St Petersburg Expands the Horizons of International Cooperation: Results of IPW-2025
The International Partners Week 2025 became one of the most important international events of the year for the Institute for Asian and African Studies at HSE University-St Petersburg. After five days of the forum, experts in Asian and African studies from HSE University-St Petersburg held negotiations with representatives of 18 global universities from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America, signed important agreements and shaped the directions for international cooperation in the future. Professor Evgeny Zelenev, Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies, shares the results of IPW-2025.
Professor Evgeny Zelenev, Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies
Experts in Asian and African studies—professors and students of all levels—are connected to international relations with the very nature of their academic and research activities. At our Institute, this 'inevitable connection' to global cooperation is perceived as a necessary and sufficient condition for productive work in Asian and African studies. The students learning the most difficult Eastern languages—two at the bachelor's level and one more at the master's level—need at least one full-fledged internship for each of the languages. The ideal scenario would be systematic training in the countries where the studied languages are spoken during academic mobility. This is a deep immersion in the world of culture, traditions, politics and economics of the Eastern countries. Young researchers, master's and PhD students need the experience of global research activities like the air. These are the tasks in the sphere of academic and research international cooperation which were solved by the experts in Asian and African studies of our Institute at IPW-2025.
During IPW-2025, the Institute employees held meaningful negotiations with the representatives of 18 universities from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.
Directly during IPW, we signed the roadmap of the cooperation between the Centre for Arabic Studies and Humanities at the University of Nizwa (Oman) and our Institute. This is a significant event which gives professors and students of Middle Eastern studies a unique opportunity to study the country with the centuries-old history, deep culture, distinctive religious beliefs and unique geopolitical position. The agreement to start working on the large-scale research project 'Encyclopedia of Modern Oman' alone says a lot!
In the framework of the IPW opening ceremony, HSE University-St Petersburg signed the Memorandum of Understanding with Alexandria University (Egypt). I got to live and work in Alexandria. I sincerely love this wonderful Egyptian city, as a side note, a city twinned with St Petersburg. Alexandria is famous not only for its globally oriented education but also for the unique, almost the biggest in the region, state-of-the-art library, where researchers from all over the world come to work. This is what we've reached, having signed only two partner agreements at IPW-2025!
Other significant results in terms of research and academic cooperation were reached with Japanese universities—Sophia, Tokai and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, with two universities in South Korea—Incheon National University and Kyung-Hee University, with the Vietnam National University and Vietnam National Economics University, with universities in Armenia, Brazil, China, France, Uzbekistan and Switzerland.
Alongside the so-called organisational events, the Institute held an important in academic terms international conference 'Soft Power beyond the West'. The goal of this scientific session was to prepare and discuss the sections of the collective monograph which is to be published in one of the most popular European publishing houses specialising in Asian and African studies—'Brill' in the Netherlands. At the moment, apart from Russian experts in Asian and African studies, this project involves researchers from Armenia, Germany, Uzbekistan, India, Iran and France. A special role in organising this project is given to the long-standing partner of HSE University-St Petersburg—the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian-Armenian University headed by professor Garnik Asatrian, an outstanding expert in Iranian studies. It was he who moderated this research conference.
The results of the Partners' Week will influence the educational programmes of our Institute. For instance, we plan to include the series of lectures by professor Jun Hyung Chae from South Korea in the master's programme 'Cross-Cultural Studies of Asia and Africa in the Context of International Relations'. We also would like to involve highly professional specialists from France, Germany, China and other countries, the representatives of which took part in organising and holding IPW, in teaching in various programmes of the Institute.
Among the prospective projects is the bachelor's or master's English-taught programme of an interdisciplinary major. There is a pilot project of a one-year field-specific English-taught master's programme 'Comparative Research of Eastern Cultures and Civilisations', devoted to studying the interaction between cultural traditions of various regions in Asia and Africa, as well as 'Comparative Research of Media, Discourse and Public Views in the Global South'.
Even in the past 4-5 years, which were difficult in political terms, we have maintained research and academic cooperation with Japanese universities. At the Partners' Week, we've decided to continue online Japanese language training for Russian students by professors from Sophia University and upgrade the series of lectures delivered by the representatives of the Tokai University for students of Asian and African studies. We are discussing similar projects with South Korean universities as well.
I would like to highlight the dialogue with the rector of VNU University of Economics and Business. We discussed the project of mutual online representation on the university websites and the creation of the 'Cultural Vietnamese Space' at HSE University-St Petersburg, focusing on cultural heritage and tourism.
The Institute and its departments are now shaping a plan of prospective events in the framework of cooperation with international partners. Among the planned projects is to hold a Summer or Winter School of the Institute on relevant contemporary topics and involve students and young researchers in international cooperation.
The Institute staff is actively discussing prospects for IPW-2026, taking into account all the partcipants' feedback. We are sure that the International Partners' Week is an efficient tool for shaping global educational innovations and research creativity.