Friendship of peoples: results of the XX International Festival of National Cultures

The XX Anniversary International Festival of National Cultures was held from April 20 to 26 at SPbSUT. The holiday brought together hundreds of young talents – international students from St. Petersburg universities.

The geography of the countries was large-scale - students from more than 30 countries of the world took part in the Festival: Angola, Azerbaijan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Ghana, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, China, Iran, Egypt, Syria, Mali, Morocco, Palestine, Indonesia, Spain, Philippines, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Zambia, Venezuela, Yemen, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Afghanistan, Benin, Israel, etc.

The Anniversary Festival featured a rich program: sporting events,    e-sports matches, the opening of art exhibitions, a discussion dedicated to the development of the BRICS organization, a game about telecommunications, a workshop for smart devices, a concert and national master classes with refreshments on the last day of the Festival.

Mini-football and streetball matches opened the festival. The sports teams of the universities met on Saturday, April 20. The best results were shown by the teams of Pavlov First Saint Petersburg State Medical University in both matches. Our University team won second place in mini-football - a worthy result considering such strong opponents.

The matches continued in virtual reality on Sunday, April 21. Counter-Strike 2 matches were held with the support of the Cyberbonch eSports Center at the Cyberarena of the Student Cultural and Leisure Center of SPbSUT. In a series of intense matches, Baltic State Technical University "Voenmeh" D.F. Ustinov team won with a big advantage in points. The star of the games was the only girl Tong Wang (China), whose skill was noted by both the participants themselves and the organizers of the meeting. A team of international students from SPbSUT won the third place.

Festival events took place on the territory of the university from April 23. The grand opening of the XX International Festival of National Cultures took place in the hall of the first floor: participants of the International Student Club “Bonch International Team” and the Council of Foreign Students showed an incendiary dance. Vice-Rector for Youth Policy and International Cooperation Nina Zhuravleva made a welcoming speech.

The opening featured two exhibitions reflecting the themes of family and home. 2024 has been declared the Year of the Family in Russia, so the theme of the art exhibitions was not chosen by chance. Director of the SPbSUT Museum Sabina Deripasko noted that love for family and care for loved ones is what unites us all, which is inherent in all peoples and cultures of our planet.

The first exhibition, entitled “The Joys of Life,” was presented by artists, teachers and graduates of the Department of Painting and Drawing of the Institute of Costume Design of Saint Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design. Among the works are portraits of people, children doing everyday activities, flowers. The organizer of the exhibition, member of the Union of Artists of Russia Nadezhda Shkandriy visited the festive program of the Festival on Friday, April 26, and expressed her readiness to continue cooperation between SPbSUT and Saint Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design.

The second exhibition “My Heart is Family”, curated by Elena Boyashova, a member of the St Petersburg branch of the Union of Artists of the Russian Federation, senior lecturer of the Department of Informatics and Computer Design of SPbSUT, was prepared by foreign students of our University and students of the Department of Informatics and Computer Design. Each work is a unique look at family relationships that develop in different cultures in different ways. The highlight of the exhibition was an interactive puzzle made up of photographs of international students of SPbSUT with their friends and family. With the right arrangement of the figures, a large heart could be seen in the very center of the work – a symbol of family values all over the world.

The round table “International economic model “BRICS: the path to cooperation and development”” took place on Tuesday, April 23. The meeting participants gathered to discuss the prospects for cooperation within the BRICS framework and its impact on the global economy.

The opening of a student space for international meetings in the  International Cooperation Department of SPbSUT became another event within the framework of the Festival. The project was implemented within the framework of the International Student Club “Signal” - a grant from Rosmolodezh. The grand opening took place with the participation of all students and staff who contributed to the application for grant support, as well as members of the Bonch International Team and the  Council of Foreign Student. The new space will become a place for student meetings to discuss international events, will allow foreign students to reveal their talents in an informal setting, will promote intercultural and interethnic exchange and the development of tolerance among students.

The intellectual game “Connectics”, dedicated to telecommunications, took place on April 24. The board game “Connectics” was developed by 3rd year students of the Faculty of Infocommunication Networks and Systems Alexander Sinitsyn and Elena Kutuzova. The students  won a grant from Rosmolodezh and, with the support of the foundation, created a game whose goal is to improve students’ literacy in the field of information and communication technologies. The game took place in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

Teams of foreign students from Saint Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design, Baltic State Technical University "Voenmeh" D.F. Ustinov and SPbSUT met in the Smart Devices Workshop on April 25. The meeting was dedicated to the assembly of smart devices of the STECK_PRO set. The developers of the project are students of the the Faculty of Infocommunication Networks and Systems Georgy Inkin, Artem Morachevskii, Varvara Mineeva, Leonid Stetsurin. The project involves working with an IT platform, including its own set for creating IoT devices, an information platform and a modular online course on the Stepik website.

The traditional concert with the participation of international students of SPbSUT and invited guests took place on April 26. National tables attracted great attention of the guests, where students from different countries treated everyone with traditional delicacies and invited them to participate in master classes.

Not only students of our university, but also professional groups of national diasporas of Turkmenistan and Tajikistan performed at the concert on this Anniversary Festival. The fashion show held for the first time as part of the concert, where participants demonstrated their national clothes, was a success. Viewers could get acquainted with costumes from China, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, South Korea, Niger, Uzbekistan, Equatorial Guinea, Russia and Morocco.

After the performances, all the guests moved from the category of spectators to the category of concert participants, as students of youth associations of our University organized an incendiary flash mob. The guests of honor, the University administration and all the students together repeated the movements in a single dance.

The XX Anniversary International Festival of National Cultures was held in an atmosphere of friendliness and respect for other cultures and traditions. Bright performances and events have become part of the history of our university, accessible to new generations of students.

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