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RIA Novosti
The Russian Embassy in the US responded to the call democratic Senator Ben Cardin to more active learning by Americans of Russian language and culture. Diplomats are spread through the social network Twitter links to three major English-language resource for foreigners wishing to study in Russia.
“American students waiting in Russia, and a reminder about the welcome,” said TASS press Secretary of the Embassy, Nikolai Lahonin. According to him, the Embassy has already appealed to Russian universities, including in the regions, urging them to pay special attention to the applications of American students and the quality of their training. Diplomats believe that the development of humanitarian cooperation in this area may help improve understanding between the US and Russia.
Cardin, speaking at the Center for strategic and international studies in Washington, talked about the development of new anti-Russian bill, which, according to the plans of its initiators, should give response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine and Syria. Your call for in-depth study of the language and culture of Russia, he explained that Americans “need to understand why (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is so popular in my country.”
Professionals in the United States it is known that the study of Russia in America has problems. Last year in Washington held a seminar on this topic, indicating that among the languages studied in the US as a foreign, the share of Russian was reduced to 1.4%. This is less than the dead Latin. Of the nearly 300 thousand Americans who went in 2013 to study abroad, only 1562 persons drove to Russia.
Against this background, a charitable organization Carnegie Corporation, based in new York, announced in late September a new initiative to promote the study of Russian in U.S. universities. In particular, it decided to grant to Columbia University in new York, Indiana University in Bloomfield and the University of Wisconsin-Madison grants of $ 1 million over two years for the “expansion and enrichment” Russian studies “in the social disciplines”. In addition, large sums for similar purposes were allocated Middlebury – College in Vermont, tufts University in Massachusetts and the “National Bureau of Asian research” in Washington state. Latest on the money to Fund a project to study “the strategic importance of Russian-Chinese relations”.