Matanzas University Visits MSLU

On May 13, MSLU welcomed Leida Finale de la Cruz, rector of the University of Matanzas (Republic of Cuba), Jose Alfonso Macias Mesa, advisor to the rector and Gustavo Jose Cobreiro Suarez, advisor on education and science of the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Russia.

The guests were greeted by Rector Irina Kraeva, Vice-Rector for International Affairs Vladimir Storozhev, Head of the Department of International Cooperation and Internationalization Irina Shokina, Head of the Department of Spanish Language and Translation Olga Kurchatkina and Head of the Department of International Business and Hotel Management Galina Krasnozhenova. Maxim Zubov, a teacher at the Department of Spanish Language and Translation, assisted with the interpreting.

Leida Finale de la Cruz thanked MSLU for most fruitful cooperation. Currently, there are only student exchanges between our universities, so the guests also proposed concluding an agreement on the exchange of teachers for a Spanish language teacher from the University of Matanzas come to MSLU for a semester and for teachers of Russian as a foreign language from MSLU go to Cuba for the same period. Our universities agreed to increase quotas for academic exchange. It was proposed to expand cooperation in Journalism, Marketing and Advertising and Public Relations. Olga Kurchatkina, who heads Nicholas Guillen Center for Linguistic and Cultural Studies of Latin America and the Caribbean, told about the creative writing competition, organized jointly with the Pablo Neruda creative workshop.

Our guests had a tour of the historical part of the academic building. And then the guests met with students of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting and the Institute of Humanities and Applied Sciences. Alexandra Konnova and Victoria Sheludko, who completed an internship at the University of Matanzas in the first semester of 2023/2024, shared their impressions: firstly, they significantly improved their command of Spanish, got to know its Cuban version better, and participated in university events. And the students, who are just about to undergo an internship, shared their expectations. Ilariya Kolesnikova recited a poem about relations between Russia and Cuba by the young Cuban poet Noel Sanchez Garcia.