The first QS Subject Focus Summit “Languages and Migration in the Context of Globalization” held at RUDN University
The summit was attended by 300 experts in the field of linguistic education and science from 50 countries, including Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, China, USA, France and Japan.
Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation addressed the participants: “It seems symbolic to me that famous researchers from Russia and other countries have gathered within the walls of RUDN to discuss the issues of science and education, which are at the intersection of different fields of knowledge. The solution of many socially significant tasks depends on the success of modern linguistic education and linguistic science: the effectiveness of the language policy implementation, the Russian language promotion abroad, migration processes regulation, peoples of Russia languages and cultures preservation and development, the success of communication in various professional spheres, including science, inclusive education development and training regional personnel for the social and humanitarian sphere ”.
Nunzio Quacquarelli, founder and CEO of the QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd, Pyotr Kucherenko, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Filippov, RUDN President and Oleg Yastrebov, RUDN Rector also made welcoming speeches.
“Today our speakers and participants will talk about the culture of teaching and learning, artificial intelligence and many other topics. Effective communication and the ability to understand your colleagues and their cultures have never been more important. It is linguistics that helps us understand how people perceive the world and how we relate to each other. I am happy to declare that RUDN University is the best platform to talk about languages and linguistics. For more than 60 years RUDN University has been uniting people of different cultures by knowledge. This has led to impressive growth in subject rankings for modern languages and linguistics.” said Nunzio Quacquarelli, founder and CEO of QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd.
The Summit was organized by the Institute of Modern Languages, Intercultural Communication and Migration of RUDN University, founded in 2018, to concentrate efforts on strengthening the University’s position in the subject areas “Modern Languages” and “Linguistics”. And for two years in a row RUDN University has shown the most rapid progress in the QS subject rankings. 2020 was a breakthrough year in language areas — the university took 101-151 places in the QS Modern Languages ranking (“Modern Languages”, +50 positions per year) and 151-200 places — in QS Linguistics (“Linguistics”, +100 positions per year ).
“RUDN University unites students from 158 countries and dozens of majors. They communicate with each other about their studies, scientific projects, and their interests. Students are different, but they find a common language. Research in the field of linguistics is one of the scientific priorities of RUDN University. With a focus on this area, we have shown the fastest growth in these subjects in the QS international rankings. I am glad that the first QS summit on modern languages and linguistics is being held at RUDN University,” said Oleg Yastrebov, Rector of RUDN University.
On the first day of the Summit, 25 leading experts in the field of linguistics and modern languages presented their reports. Among the key speakers were István Kecskés, Jean-Marc Dewaele, Michael Haugh, Laura Alba-Juez, Andrei Kibrik, Nobuyuki Hino and others
On the second day of the Summit, reports were presented by 40 experts, including Lyudmila Bokova, Anna Wierzbicka, Alexey Maslov, Vladimir Zorin, Michael McCarthy, Robert O’Dowd, Anthony Green and many others
On the third day of the Summit, among 30 leading experts in the field of linguistics and modern languages who presented their reports were Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Marina Raevskaya, Alain Viaut, Tatiana Martsenkovskaya, Roman Kralik, Douglas Ponton and others.
The QS Subject Focus Summit at RUDN University is a scientific and technical event of a new format. An online platform was developed especially for the Summit, which made it possible to fully immerse in the virtual space of the university. Participants could communicate with each other, visit exhibitions, conduct negotiations and view documents and videos. Three thematic tracks ran in parallel, and all experts could freely move between them. Speakers communicated with the audience in real time. All Summit materials will be available one month.
Savitribai Phule Pune University became a participant of the Russian language courses thanks to the reliable support of the Russkiy Mir Foundation. Students and teachers of the university got a unique opportunity to study Russian language under the guidance of highly qualified teachers of RUDN and on the Digital Education Platform.
On 4th of April 2025, RUDN University hosted the 2-nd annual event on Swahili.
The forum attracted over 400 representatives from 36 countries, including delegates from 16 Asian countries, experts from the nuclear industry, supporting and partner universities of Rosatom.