Applicants from Abkhazia will have a high priority when applying for state-funded places of the St. Petersburg State Forestry University thanks to the assistance of the WAC.

The World Abaza Congress will assist applicants from Abkhazia with entering the St. Petersburg State Forestry University (SPbGLTU) on a free basis. Such a prospect opened up in the course of interaction between the university and the WAC and after the signing of an agreement between them on cooperation and joint activities in the field of training qualified personnel.

Commenting on the fact of signing the agreement, the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the World Abaza Congress Mussa Ekzekov stressed that this is only the beginning of a great joint work.

"Today we agreed that the WAC will facilitate the admission of applicants from Abkhazia to the Forestry University. Moreover, we are talking about state-funded places. We are happy to provide Abkhazian youth with this truly unique opportunity - to get an education at a university with a rich history and the highest reputation, both in Russia and abroad. We also hope that the youth of the Abkhaz-Abaza Diasporas in other countries where the WAC operates today will also be interested in education at the Forestry University," said Mussa Ekzekov.

He added that the next step in the interaction of the WAC and SPbGLTU will be the organization of scientific cooperation of the university with the Sukhum profile university and state institutions of Abkhazia.

The agreement also provides for the activities of the parties to organize and conduct joint conferences, exhibitions, seminars, presentations and meetings on topics of mutual interest of the WAC and SPbGLTU.

Irina Melnichuk, Acting Rector of SPbGLTU, in turn, said that the university is ready to provide students from Abkhazia with interesting opportunities.

"We have more than 600 state-funded places in 21 areas of study. Today our university can be safely called polytechnic: in addition to areas directly related to forestry, logging and woodworking, there are a large number of creative areas - landscape architecture, design and others. We are sure that creative directions will interest students, because Abkhazia is a unique natural enclave that requires care and professionalism," she said.

Elena Bogatova, secretary of the SPbGLTU admissions committee, took part in the meeting when signing the agreement, and she said that the university is ready to support applicants in preparing for the entrance exams, provide them with the necessary teaching materials. She also listed various extracurricular activities for future university students.

"Apart from education, the university provides great opportunities for personal growth. SPbGLTU has a unique sports department. These are more than 70 kinds of sports, our students participate in competitions of Russian, European and world level. The university also has developed student self-government, there is an opportunity to develop creative potential in theater or vocal studios," explained the head of the selection committee.

Applicants from Abkhazia who would like to enter SPbGLTU can contact the St. Petersburg office of the World Abaza Congress for detailed information about the benefits for admission by e-mail: info.spb@abaza.org, or by phone: +7 812 514 88 55.

REFERENCE: St. Petersburg State Forestry University named after Sergey Kirov (SPbGLTU), which turned 217 years old in 2020, implements educational programs for secondary, higher and additional professional education; carries out training, retraining and advanced training of highly qualified specialists for industrial, scientific and scientific-pedagogical activities in the field of forestry, woodworking, wood-chemical, pulp and paper, hydrolysis industries; carries out fundamental and applied scientific research.

SPbGLTU was the first among forestry universities of the country to switch to a multilevel system of higher professional education. Today over 6,000 students study here, among them citizens from 42 countries of the near and far abroad. The university has a powerful educational and research base. The scientific and pedagogical staff of the university develops both traditional and new scientific and educational areas that are highly appreciated by the professional community. The educational process is provided by a qualified teaching staff.

The University has always been the leading scientific and methodological center of higher forestry educational institutions of the Russian Federation. It has a Center of Expertise accredited by the State Standard of Russia, the International Center for Forestry and Forest Industry (ICFFI), which is part of the international cooperation system, the St. Petersburg Regional Project Center of the European Forest Institute, the Department of Forest and Forest Products Technologies of the World Technological University.