Siberian Education for Africa — Results of the Visit of an African Delegation to Novosibirsk Universities

At Novosibirsk State University, the guests were particularly interested in educational programs that have already proven their effectiveness on the African continent. NSU and the CPD already have successful partnership experience in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—where an international IT class, a medical‑biological pre-faculty program, and university Olympiads that provide admission benefits to a Siberian university have been launched. At the end of the meeting, representatives of Ghana, Namibia, Sierra Leone, and Togo expressed the wish that these programs would eventually become available to their young citizens as well.

Similar projects with the support of the CPD are also being implemented in Africa by Novosibirsk State Technical University. About 100 students from Niger have already enrolled at the university after completing NSTU’s pre-faculty program, and engineering classes have been launched by the university in Ghana and Burkina Faso. The university also has specific quotas for retraining African teachers in higher and secondary vocational education. This program particularly interested the Ambassador of Sierra Leone—the parties agreed on targeted enrollment of two groups of teachers. In addition, the parties planned a targeted internship for employees of the country’s Ministry of Energy. Many African guests also showed keen interest in cooperation with NSTU under double-degree programs.

At the Novosibirsk State University of Architecture, Design and Arts, the delegates visited high-tech classrooms, art studios, and workshops. The African guests were especially impressed by the exhibition of graduation projects by NSUADA alumni, where one can see everything from children’s toy design to projects for the territory of the SKIF synchrotron. The parties discussed promising joint educational projects and internship programs for African teachers. A specific initiative came from the Winneba University of Education in Ghana—a representative of the Faculty of Arts, Culture and Music предложил that NSUADA specialists compare curricula in order to discuss in detail further exchange of experience and the potential launch of a double-degree program.

Concluding the large-scale introduction to Novosibirsk universities, the delegates visited the Siberian State University of Engineering and Biotechnology, where they met with the leadership and took a thorough tour. The African guests were impressed by the opportunity for future specialists in the agro-industrial complex to work both at a training site for practical classes and with augmented reality, learning not only about the main crops and tractors, but also about robots, agro-drones, and aquaculture. The guests were particularly interested in the practice-oriented nature of the training—preparing qualified personnel for agriculture and the food industry for Africa is consistently relevant. Earlier, on the sidelines of Tekhnoprom‑2026, a cooperation agreement was signed between the University of Biotechnology and the state university of Guinea-Bissau, and several students from this country will begin studies at the Siberian university as early as this year.