Russian-African Network University (RAFU) for Sustainable Development in Africa
The Russian-African Network University (RAFU) Consortium, a unified platform for the development of academic cooperation between Russian and African universities, established in 2021.
RAFU mission: creation of a unified scientific and educational space providing equal access to educational resources for all RAFU participants from different countries.
Polytechnic University became the coordinator of the Russian-African Network University in July 2023 during the Russia-Africa Summit. Konstantin Mogilevsky, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, presented the symbol of the Russian-African Network University (RAFU) to SPbPU Rector Andrei Rudskoi as a sign of official transfer of the coordinator’s authority.
Training of qualified personnel has been and remains a traditional area of Russian-African cooperation. Today, almost 35,000 students from Africa study in Russian universities, and this number is growing annually. The quota for African students at the expense of the federal budget of the Russian Federation has increased two and a half times in three years and for the next academic year will amount to more than 4,700 people.
Today it is necessary to form new sustainable ties between universities and organizations of Russia and African countries, to expand the areas of personnel training in the interests of sustainable development of African countries and priority sectors of their economies.
The universities of the Consortium «Russian-African Network University» educational and scientific cooperation with African partners, as well as large infrastructure projects with the participation of industrial partners in various areas of sustainable development, for example, in the areas of nature management and environmental protection, development of new management systems and protection of natural resources, development of «clean energy», preservation of cultural heritage and many others.
RAFU Participants:
- 80+ Russian universities
- 5 Russian scientific institutes
- 3 organizations
- 40+ African universities (from 11 countries)
Areas of activity of the RAFU Consortium:
- Implementation of joint network educational programs of master’s degree and postgraduate studies
- Professional development and retraining of staff
- Development of academic mobility of students and faculty
- Promotion of intercultural dialog between students from different countries; preservation, development and mutual enrichment of cultures, languages, historical and national traditions
- Implementation of joint scientific and project activities, conducting joint research, participation in bilateral grant competitions, organizing internships, providing joint supervision of postgraduate students’ research works
RAFU university-coordinator carries out operational management and coordination of the consortium’s activities:
- 2021-2023 — Crimean Federal University
- 2023-2025 — Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University
Opportunities for RAFU participants within the Consortium
For students:
Russia-Africa Summer Multidisciplinary University and other educational programs
- Students: 150+ annually
- Countries: 20+
- Programs and tracks: 50+
- Online school for applicants: 500+ participants
- Teaching languages: Russian, English, French
For RAFU participants:
- Cooperation between Russian and African universities
- Joint educational programs and research projects
- Targeted training together with industrial partners
- Academic mobility
- Open access to educational resources of RAFU participants
Summer multidisciplinary university
Goal: immersion of African students in the Russian educational space, development of Russian-African networking through the implementation of both educational and cultural-historical tracks of the Russia-Africa Summer Multidisciplinary University.
The first Summer Multidisciplinary University was held in August 2022 on two cultural and educational tracks under the programs «Climate Change and Disaster Risks» and «Modern Hydrometeorological Surveys».
Summer University programs:
- Organizing environmental tours and excursions in protected areas
- Best practices in sustainable tourism development
- Climate change and disaster risks
- Modern methods and technologies in hydrometeorological research
- Modern tools for development of information systems
- Computer vision: hard, soft and real applications
- Actual problems of electric power engineering
- Intellectual power engineering
- Fundamentals of food safety management system
- Biomedical engineering
- Exploration technologies
- Modern agriculture
- Tools and instruments for automation of technical systems
- Digital research leadership
- Russian language and culture: traditions and modernity
- Alla Mazina
Secretary of the RAFU General Committee,
Deputy Head
International Cooperation Office - mazina_al@spbstu.ru
- Maksim Zalyvskij
Head of the RAFU Project Office - zalyvskij_mn@spbstu.ru
