On September 2, 2020, the fifth series of joint seminars by students of St. Petersburg State University and the University of Michigan (USA) started
on the initiative of the Scientific Laboratory for Analysis and Modeling of Social Processes, St. Petersburg State University. This time the subject of discussion will be the topic “The Qur’an and its Interpretations”. The course program was developed by Alexander Dmitrievich Knysh, head of the Scientific Laboratory for Analysis and Modeling of Social Processes of St. Petersburg State University, professor at the University of Michigan. Head of the Department of Arabic Philology of St. Petersburg State University, Professor Oleg Redkin and Associate Professor of the Department of Arabic Philology Olga Bernikova also take part in the organization and arrangement of the events. Video conferencing workshops will be held weekly during the current semester.

The acquaintance of the program participants began in absentia. On the eve of the event, students posted information about themselves and their interests in a collaborative environment specially created using the GOOGLE online office. During the meeting, 20 students of St. Petersburg University and the University of Michigan, in addition to telling about themselves, read fragments of the Qur’an that they had chosen in advance, which attracted their attention, and commented on their choice.
The very first seminar demonstrated the interest of all program participants. Our students showed a good level of proficiency in English, which will allow them to continue productive dialogue and exchange of views with the American side. Of course, such events are extremely important both for the development of international, intercultural and inter-university cooperation, the exchange of experience of the teaching staff, and for improving the training of students, allowing them to improve and comprehensively develop professional, linguistic and socio-cultural skills.
It is worth noting that this year the second and fourth year students of the Islamic Studies program, which was opened in 2015, take part in the seminar program, which once again proves its uniqueness and competitiveness. Over the past years, there have been three enrollments for this program in the undergraduate and four in the magistracy. Their graduates regularly receive good reviews from employers regarding their high professional competence.
See related materials:
The start of the webinar course “Islam in Russia”
Webinars “Islamic Movements in Comparative Perspective”
Recommencement of Webinars with the University of Michigan
Webinars with the University of Michigan