International Congress Related to Elites & Leaders Just Opened at ASU

The International Congress “Elites & Leaders: Formation Strategies at a Modern University” is currently taking place at Astrakhan State University.

The range of the event participants includes a number of scholars from Germany, Italy, South Korea, Japan, the United States, Nepal, South Africa, and Russia. One of the distinguished guests is Mr. Anicet Gabriel Kotchofa, Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary of Benin to Russia & CIS.

The opening ceremony was preceded with a presentation of the university facilities to our guests. The participants of the Congress could see our newly-built University building at the back of our Main Building: modern labs and centers, our swimming pool, auditoriums with multimedia equipment, etc.

The welcoming speech by Prof. Alexander Lunev, our Acting Rector, opened the Congress. Prof. Lunev emphasized the fact that the main theme of discussion is new approaches to training qualified specialists, in particular – project-based teaching techniques.

Mr. Alexander Zhilkin, Governor of Astrakhan Region, welcomed the audience, too: “The goal this Congress set itself is definitely topical and urgent. That’s the base for a successful development of our country. The key task of university education is to provide the right conditions to form young specialists’ skills of process arrangement and management. This goal should be met in close interaction with legal authorities; it should aim at young people who have real leadership abilities”.

Prof. Marina Borovskaya, Rector of Southern Federal University, also gave a welcoming speech. According to her, it is elite, which was formed at universities and which was later on represented in the society, that becomes a real pride of this or that region.

The Congress agenda includes discussion of a number of issues: pluses and minuses of elite education; formation of social elite at a university by developing such competencies as leadership, teamwork skills, communication arrangement; specifics of open education activities related to formation of leadership; leadership in information open elite education, etc.

The range of the key speakers includes experts in the field of Elitology and leadership: Prof. Arushan Vartumyan (Deputy Director for Scientific Activities, Institute of Service, Tourism & Design (Branch of North-Caucasus Federal University, Pyatigorsk, Russia)); Prof. Geesje van den Berg (Head of the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University of South Africa (Pretoria)); Prof. Rebat Kumar Dhakal (an educator at Kathmandu University School of Education (KUSOED) (Nepal)); Prof. Bruce Leimsidor from the Ca’ Foscari University (Venice, Italy)); Prof. Ravil Rezakov (Head of the R&D Directorate of Moscow City University; Full Professor of the Chair of Theory & History of Pedagogics of the Institute of Pedagogics & Psychology of Moscow State Pedagogical University (Russia)); Prof. Pavel Karabushchenko (Full Professor of the Chair of Political Science & International Relations of Astrakhan State University); Prof. Svetlana Kuzina (Full Professor at the Department of Politology and Ethnopolitics of South-Russian Institute of Management – branch of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy & Public Administration, Full Professor of the Department of Humanities and Socio-Economic Disciplines of Rostov Institute (branch) of the All-Russian State University of Justice); Prof. Oyama Kazunobu (Professor of Kanagawa University (Yokohama, Japan), Faculty of Economics, Department of Economics/Department of Contemporary Business); Prof. Hekyung Kim (Professor of the English Department at Dongseo University in Korea); Prof. Alexander Ponedelkov (Head of the Chair of Political Science & Ethnic Policy, Chief of the Laboratory of the State & Municipal Administration Efficiency Enhancement Issues of the South-Russian Institute of Management of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy & Public Administration (Rostov-on-Don, Russia)).

The event agenda also includes trainings, master classes, short-term professional retraining courses; anyone who completes them successfully shall obtain an official certificate. There are such programs of professional training as “Harvard Case Method: Unique Experience, Practical Tools, Successful Cases”; “Leadership, Soft Skills, & Teamwork in Educational Process”; “Critical Writing & Thinking (experience gained by Bard College (New York, USA), Saint Petersburg State University, and Astrakhan State University)”; “Organizational Learning as a Tool of Elite & Leadership Formation”. These courses aim not just at university faculty staff, but also at quite a wide range of specialists in various spheres, including businesspeople.