The Preparatory Faculty

Dean's Office

Deputy Dean – Olga V. Lyutova, 
Phd in Education, Associate Professor of the Russian Language and Cross-cultural Communication Department, 
building №17, 4th floor, room 4-26

Structure

At the present time, the Preparatory Faculty includes two departments:

  • Department of the Russian Language and Cross-cultural Communication;
  • Department of the Russian Language and Professional Speech Communication.

The faculty also embodies:

  • The Russian Language Testing Center for Foreign Citizens (Director, Associate Professor R.V. Kuleshova, PhD in Education);
  • The Chinese Language and Culture Center (Director, Professor L.G. Petrova, PhD in Education).

Education in the Preparatory Faculty

At the moment, the faculty has the most up-to-date facilities, highly skilled teaching staff and is among a number of leading state faculties of the Russian Federation, which carry out pre-university and university training of foreign citizens.

The Preparatory Faculty provides the following educational programs at the present time:

  • pre-university training for foreign citizens in five courses: humanitarian, economic, engineering and technical, natural sciences and medico-biological;
  • Bachelor's Program - Philology: Philology Teaching (Teaching the Russian Language and Literature);
  • Master's Program - Philology: Russian as a foreign language;
  • exchange education for foreign citizens in educational programs agreed with the foreign higher education institution partners (Dalian University of Foreign Languages (China), Petroleum University in Quingdao (China), Dezhou University (China), Opole University (Poland);
  • the Russian language teaching to foreign citizens in foreign centers of pre-university training of the Belgorod National Research University (Ecuador - Quito, Brazil - Sao Paulo, the People's Republic of China – Dezhou, the People's Republic of China - Quingdao);
  • courses of Russian as a foreign language

The faculty offers one year or one and a half years pre-university training program for foreign citizens. One and a half years program students arrive in April. One year program students arrive from September up to December. As the new students arrive student groups are formed. Each group consists of no more than 8-10 students. It guarantees a profound training for further education in NRU «BelSU» faculties and institutes and other higher education institutions of the Russian Federation.

Scientific and Research Work

The Faculty develops scientific and methodological cooperation with higher education institutions of the Russian Federation (Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow University of Management, Southwest Technical University, Tula State University, Kaluga State University, Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology, Nizhniy Novgorod State Pedagogical University, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, etc.) and with foreign higher education institutions (The Nice Sophia Antipolis University (France), Opole University (Poland), Dalian University of Foreign Languages (China), Dezhou State University (China), the University of Petroleum Technologies (China), Kharkov National Automobile Engineering University (Ukraine), Karazin National University (Ukraine) and others). A lot of monographs and teaching aids were published in cooperation with foreign colleagues. Each year, the faculty publishes a collection of scientific and methodological articles following the results of research and practice conferences. The seminars for students and teachers are held annually.

The main scientific field of the faculty departments is «Cross-cultural Communication and Linguistic Pragmatics in the Theory and Practice of the Russian Language Teaching». Head of project: Doctor of Education, Professor, member of Peter the Great Academy of Arts and Sciences Irina B. Ignatova.

The following topics are researched in the faculty departments in the framework of the above issue:

  • Sociocultural and cognitive aspects of the Russian language and discourse. Head of research project: Professor L.G. Petrova, Phd in Education;
  • Formation of cross-cultural toleration of linguistic identity of foreign students. Head of research project: Associate Professor L.F. Svoikina, PhD in Education;
  • Realization of communicative approach in foreign language teaching through conversation. Head of research project: Professor T.V. Samosenkova, Doctor of Education;
  • Intensive methods of teaching Russian as a foreign language. Head of research project: Professor T.V. Samosenkova, Doctor of Education;
  • Communicative approach in pronunciation acquisition. Head of research project: Associate Professor L.A. Zubareva, PhD in Education;
  • Practical Grammar in the system of teaching Russian as foreign language. Head of research project: Associate Professor T.N. Litvinova, PhD in Education;
  • Innovative approaches to theory and practice of special disciplines teaching at the stage of pre-university training. Head of research project: Senior Teacher S.V. Korolkova, PhD in Biology and Chemistry;

More than 80 monographs and teaching aids, 90 articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals since 1999.

The projects «Formation of cross-cultural toleration of linguistic identity of foreign students through the Russian language and culture» and «Professional language in the paradigm of linguistic methodology» won a grant of Russian Foundation for Humanities and Likhachev Foundation.

International Cooperation and Student Exchange

The Preparatory Faculty implements its international activity through cooperation with foreign higher education institutions: Dalian University of Foreign Languages (Dalian, China), China Petroleum University (Quingdao, China), Dezhou University (Dezhou, China), Opole University (Opole, Poland), The Fluminense Federal University (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Teachers of faculty departments are active participants of international academic exchange programs. Senior teachers, associate professors, professors are annually invited by foreign partners to teach Russian as a foreign language (Dezhou University (Dezhou, China), Dalian University of Foreign Languages (Dalian, China), China Petroleum University (Quingdao, China), The Nice Sophia Antipolis University (Nice, France) and others. Every year 30-40 foreign students from the above universities are enrolled in the Preparatory Faculty in scope of a student exchange program.

Professor L.G. Petrova, Associate Prof. R.V. Kuleshova, Associate Prof. N.V. Shcherbakova, Associate Prof. V.H. Karaseva, Associate Prof. I.R. Dedikova, Associate Prof. A.N. Langner, Senior Teacher N.V. Yurchenko, Associate Prof. U.A. Klimova, Senior Teacher E.S. Abramova worked at at Dezhou State University, China Petroleum University and other universities since 2008-2009 academic year to prepare Chinese students for further study in NRU «BelSU» according to the current exchange programs.

Our teachers from department of the Russian Language and Professional Speech Communication in cooperation with Professional Skills Improvement Faculty of Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (Professor T.M. Balykhina, PhD in Education) took part in seminars for teachers of Russian as foreign language in Egypt and Cuba. 4 training aids certified by Education Ministry of China were written and published with participation of Chinese colleagues.

Apart from educational work, our teachers realize extracurricular activity to promote the Russian language abroad. For instance, the Russian language and culture clubs work in Dezhou State University, Dalian University of foreign languages, China Petroleum University. Students have opportunity there to extend knowledge in different language and culture aspects, participate in poetry readings and annual festival of Russian arts and culture.

Social and Educational Work

The main goal of social and educational work in the Preparatory Faculty is adaptation of foreign students to the new educational, social and cultural environment. New foreign students need care, assistance and psychological support. Student group tutors become not just advisers, but «university parents». There is one year adaptation program for foreign students to make their adjustment more successful. The program includes a range of measures aimed to introduce foreign students to the rules of stay in the Russian Federation, Belgorod and our university, medical care organization, to solve problems of psychological nature, etc.

All the required facilities and accommodations are created for foreign students. BSU offers a student hostel which meet up-to-date requirements. Gyms and sports ground of Khorkina Sports and Educational Complex are at students' disposal. The university arranges excursions to museums, arts and crafts centers, monuments of Belgorod and Belgorod region (Museum of Local Lore, History and Economy, M.S. Shchepkin Theatre, Folk Culture Museum, the Holy Trinity Kholkovsky Monastery, Kupino Folk Culture Center, Complex-Museum «Prokhorovka Battlefield Memorial» and other. Excursions to Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities are held annually. Each year, the following contests and activities for foreign students are arranged: «Let's get acquainted», an evening where students talk about culture of their native country; contest «Russian song»; ethnic culture evenings; contest «I recite poems in Russian». Foreign students also can take part in academic competition in the Russian language. In 2008, Columbian student Alfonso Paredes Rivas won in the all-Russian academic competition in the Russian language for foreign students in Moscow. Students take an active part in traditional annual festivals of national cultures of NRU «BelSU».

Russian and Chinese, Russian and African, Russian and Latin American Friendship Clubs are created in the faculty to introduce students to each other so that they have an opportunity to converse in informal setting and find common interests. Apart from it, foreign students and Russian pupils meetings are held each academic year. With a greatest pleasure foreign students visit orphan homes of Belgorod region and collect gifts for children.