An NCFU delegation, headed by Dmitry Bespalov (Rector, NCFU) paid a visit to Iraq where the main purpose was to hold the Festival of Professions and enhance cooperation.

The Festival arranged within an initiative coming from the NCFU was held in the City of Erbil in order to promote the Russian culture, traditions and inform youngsters of ways to earn a degree from a Russian academic institution.

At the event, there were not only interactive sites functioning to help those seeking to become teachers of Maths and the Russian Language yet the visitors could also watch movies about Russia and the North Caucasus.

More details were made available at the Career Guidance site where prospective students could come to know the history of NCFU, the available degree programs and even see some real-lilfe cases of selecting a future job.

A highlight of the Festival was the Literature Café, which is a special activity launched by NCFU in many places abroad to introduce people to the culture of the Russian language and life in general, and the event was a success – over 300 Iraqis came to make their first steps into Russian.

– Our University pays special attention to promoting Russian abroad. Today, NCFU has over 1500 foreign students from 59 countries. I believe that the Festival of Professions is another great chance to show the potential our country has, as well as to stress the value of this cultural and academic partnership, – Dmitry Bespalov was quoted as saying.

The Festival ended with a great performance by NCFU dance groups and performers from Iraq.

However, Prof. Bespalov was busier than just leading the Festival – he held a meeting with Alan Hama Saeed Saleh (Education Minister) to discuss cooperation in terms of joint projects for schoolers of Iraq, summer training schools and much more.

The Minister, in turn, expressed lots of interest and hope to go on expanding cooperation with Russia, which means just wait for more good news.