MGIMO Students Win All-Russian Student Competition in Arabic

MGIMO Students Win All-Russian Student Competition in Arabic

1 November 2019

October 31st-November 1st, the third All-Russian Student Olympiad in Arabic was held in Kazan. Over one hundred BA and MA students from universities all over Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan participated in the competition.

The students took tests on seven different aspects of the language: an essay, a translation, an oral speech competition, poetry, simultaneous interpretation, listening comprehension and a photo contest on the Arab world.

The jury comprised lecturers and professors from Kazan Federal University and from Armenian, Egyptian and Moroccan universities. The guest of honor was the Ambassador of Syria to Russia, Riad Haddad. MGIMO’s Assistant Professor Natalia Shuiskaya was also a member of the jury.

MGIMO was represented this year at the event by fifteen graduate and undergraduate students. While our students won in previous years several prizes for their Arabic skills in this competition, this year their triumph was truly remarkable as they were awarded seven prizes (five gold and two bronze)!

MGIMO received the University Cup, which is awarded to the institution with the most prizes. Our University stood apart from the second and third place universities, which received only two or three awards.

In 2017, when the Olympiad was organized for the first time, the CIS Center for International Certification in the Arabic language was opened at Kazan Federal University. The winners of the Olympiad could take for free (and other participants at a reduced rate) Arabic language testing and receive an international certificate.

Congratulations to MGIMO participants! On the day the results were announced, Kazan Federal University students organized a cultural event, preparing Arabic dishes, thematic newspapers and performing traditional dances and songs. The competition was organized by the Institute of International Relations of Kazan Federal University.

— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version