Sweden opens up possibilities for cooperation

12:11, December 6, 2013

Students and university staff of Ural Federal University will participate in Swedish Days in Ekaterinburg

Ural Federal University will become one of the hosts of Swedish Days’ events, which will be held in Ekaterinburg in February. This decision is a result of the meeting of UrFU Rector Victor Koksharov and Morten Frankby, the cultural attaché of the Embassy of Sweden in the Russian Federation.

It is expected that the program of cultural event will include film festival, modern jazz concert, open lectures, modern Swedish art exhibitions. UrFU students will have opportunity to get acquainted with academic mobility programs in Swedish universities. “We think that it is very important for young people and scientists to meet more frequent and exchange experiences. Such international cooperation gives possibilities to develop to both: Russian and Swedish students and lecturers”, — stated Morten Frankby.

Victor Koksharov told the guest about the university participation in the program of increasing global competitiveness of Russian universities and expressed interest in expansion of cooperation with Swedish universities.

We would like to remind that by 2020 the number of foreign students in UrFU should be five times greater and not less than 15% of the academic staff will have to hold PhD degree. This is one of the reasons UrFU is interested in forming strong bonds with world universities, with Swedish in particular. It will contribute in increasing the number of student exchange programs, implementing double diploma programs and attracting Swedish lecturers to educational process.

Morten Frankby’s reaction on the meeting with the rector of the largest federal university of Russia was positive. “I’m very glad to meet Rector Victor Koksharov. We had an open dialog. I saw readiness for cooperation, international interaction and student exchange. At the present moment Swedish universities have a lot of master courses in English, about 650 in total”, - noted Morten Frankby.