On 20 September, Stephen Hagen, international higher education expert of the European Commission and the Director of Semantika Ltd, and Klaus-Dieter Heinze, the Head of the chemical/industrial technopark Dow Olefinverbund GmbH Leiter ValuePark (Germany), initiator of the German Alumni Association, were awarded with the gown and diploma of Doctor Honoris Causa of Voronezh State University.
In their public lectures, the Honorary Doctors of VSU expressed their gratitude to VSU for the received honour and talked about the importance of integration of the university into international educational process, its partnership with businesses, and its presence in international rankings.
“Competition in the area of higher education has never been as tough as today. Publishing activity numbers, citation numbers, and other indicators, describing how demanded research papers are, are constantly growing. One of the main issues for Russian universities is that the majority of the most significant journals are published in English. To overcome this difficulty, Russian universities should integrate into international research teams and have more international scientists among their lecturers. These things make universities more attractive for international students. The driver of the university's development is applied research focused on competencies which are demanded in various areas. In the modern world, universities have to accumulate their partnership potential, develop multidisciplinary education, and reconsider their fundamental values,” said Stephen Hagen.
“I believe the university has to strengthen its partnerships with industrial companies. It will open new opportunities for student internships and graduate employment. What is more, I believe it is very important to extend the areas of cooperation with international universities. The existing partnerships should not be limited to one specified area or the activities of certain people. They should have a wider range. It will make the university more recognisable abroad and will make it more attractive for international students. The more international students that will study in Voronezh, the more international publicity the university and the city will receive,” said Klaus-Dieter Heinze.
