Department of Russian

As one of the national strategic languages, Russian is gaining increasing significance under the high demand for practical Russian-speaking professionals in political, economic and cultural exchanges between China and Russia. SIS re-launched the Russian language major in 2009, and established the Department of Russian, admitting the first cohort of Russian majors in 2011. The objective of our program is to produce English-Russian bilingual professionals with exceptional language proficiency and abundant cultural knowledge so as to better adapt to the national development and market demand.

Course Design

The design of the program curriculum is in accordance with the general rules of language acquisition, with an emphasis on the development of interdisciplinary professionals in languages. We provide beginner students with courses on Russian listening, speaking, reading and writing, focusing on basic language knowledge and communication skills.

For advanced students, we offer special courses such as Russian Interpreting, Russian for Foreign Affairs and Business Russian, with an aim to enrich their knowledge in various fields while comprehensively promoting their language proficiency. Apart from studying Russian, each student is required to participate in the English program as a minor to enhance their English skills.

Extracurricular Activities

The Department provides a variety of extracurricular activities for students to practice Russian. Since 2012, the SYSU Russian Culture Festival, which includes performances, games and poetry reading, has been an annual event. Students can apply what they have learned in practice, improve their ability in organizing group events and enhance their cross-culture communication and coordination skills through these activities. With consistent support of all faculty members and students, the Russian Culture Festival has become one of the notable and popular annual activities on Zhuhai campus. The Department also encourages students to seek work experience off campus. Our students offer services at large-scale events such as the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition and China International Circus Festival.

Exchange Programs

The Department has constantly placed great emphasis on foreign exchange and internationalization. As a result, we have forged partnerships with five universities in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Since 2006, we have received a total of 11 cohorts of incoming and outgoing students to and from universities in Russian-speaking countries such as Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian New University, Vladimir State University and Donetsk National University in Ukraine. Most  third-year students are able to experience the exchange program. By 2014 the number of outgoing Russian exchange students has reached 200.