Dr. Aganin was accompanied with Ms Spirina Tatiana, Cultural Attaché of the Russian Embassy and Dr. Mohammad Dabous, Director of the Russian Palestinian Society.

The visit aimed at expanding academic and research cooperation between the Russian and the Palestinian universities and discussing new academic exchange programmes for Palestinian and Russian students and professors.

At the beginning of the meeting, Prof. Natsheh welcomed the guests and briefed them on An-Najah’s faculties, programmes, students, campuses and academic achievements well as the Arabic for Non-Native Speakers Institute. He commended the collaboration between An-Najah and the Russian universities and called to expand the cooperation through dispatching Russian and Palestinian academics and students to teach and learn Arabic and Russian languages.

The Russian Ambassador in turn stressed the importance of teaching Arabic language in the Russian universities through academic scholarships and exchange programmes.

The Ambassador also met with the university students to give a lecture on the Russian policies towards the Middle East with a specific focus on the Palestinian cause.

The lecture shed light on different political topics such as the American and Russian interference in the Syrian conflict, the Russian international relations and the Russian attitude towards the Palestinian cause.

Furthermore, Dr. Dabous talked about the Russian Palestinian Society which aims at bonding academic relations between the Russian and the Palestinian universities. He also talked about the facilities the society offers to the students and academics in terms of student exchange, research publication and training courses.

At the end of the lecture, the Ambassador answered the students’ questions on the discussed topics.

Notes:

The meeting was also attended by Dr. Mohammad El-Amleh, Vice President for Academic Affairs; Dr. Saed Al-Koni, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences; Dr. Suhail Salhi, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences; Ms Dalal Radwan from the International Office; Mr. Khaled Mufleh, Acting Director of the Public Relations Department and Ms Shatha Jararaa from PR at An-Najah.

The guests were also given a tour of the New and Old Campuses.