It was on the fifth of March when a team from Samara State University arrived to University of Wales Bangor located in the most picturesque area of outstanding natural beauty called Snowdonia. Established in 1884, the University of Wales, Bangor today is a forward Ц looking educational institution offering undergraduate and postgraduate opportunities in both taught courses and research degrees. With over 10 0000 students all over the world Bangor teaching standards are high enough Ц Chinese experts in education included Bangor in its list of the Top 500 Universities Worldwide in the terms of research activities. It is also of interest to know that over 10 per cent of their full-time students from 70 countries made their choice with Bangor due to its long tradition of academic excellence: over half of the academic departments at Bangor have received an СexcellentТ rating for the quality of teaching. Besides, market research shows that the cost of living in Bangor is much lower than in other parts of the UK.
Exchange schemes, work placements, summer vacation schemes and volunteering opportunities are amongst the many programmes offered to Bangor students to enable them to make the most of their time at the university. All the courses are taught in English, although for Welsh speakers (around 20 per cent of the total number of Bangor students) opportunities for studying a range of courses through the medium of welsh are offered. Over 10 per cent of full-time students come from 16 European countries and 59 other countries worldwide. Some come as far as Japan, Tanzania, Jordan, Bangladesh etc. The young people are attracted by e courses in Healthcare, Biological sciences, Business and Electronics studies, Sociology and Social Work, Psychology etc. Actually in the terms of the courses offered to students Bangor University (Wales) is very much similar to that of Samara State University.
Our meetings with the colleagues from Bangor assisted a lot in establishing professional contacts and contributes to the exchange of ideas about collaboration in various fields. We are grateful to Iwan Roberts, Head of the International Office at the University of Wales, Bangor who gave us a friendly welcome and worked out our schedule so that we could benefit from the meetings for our collaboration projects (papers about academic life at both universities, exchange of ideas on scientific, academic and cultural events, part time-courses for students etc). We also discussed the opportunities for providing access to the courses in key subjects and channels of communication both for the academic stuff and the students from Bangor and Samara. I was impressed a lot by the social life and the studentsТ union activities in Bangor. The various student-run clubs and societies cover a range of hobbies, sports and other interests. The annual Freshers Fair gives every opportunity to find out more about activities, ranging from archaeology and drama to scouts and war gaming. If you canТt find a club that appeals to you, you may set one up with the help of the Union. You could also join to work for the benefit of the local community through Student Volunteering Bangor. This is a student-led charity that is involved with projects for the young, the disabled, the elderly etc. Student volunteers give their time to assist members of the local community, improving the lives of those they help while also developing new skills and friendships. It is important that the skills and experience they gain through volunteering will be attached to employers and there is the chance to gain certificates for the involvement. Currently there are over 500 student volunteers working with the local community.
The University is also supporting the students with sorting abilities by offering a number of Sports Scholarships for students, allowing free access to the training rooms. However it is another story.
We hope our collaboration will continue and weТll be able to develop our projects for the benefit of Bangor-Samara educational Schemes.