On December 12, administrators from Buryat State University welcomed and met with representatives of the city of Erenhot, People’s Republic of China. The Chinese delegation was represented by the mayor of Erenhot, Bao Chun Min, the rector of the Erenhot International Institute at the Inner Mongolia Normal University, Chou Tsyuanshen, and other representatives of the business community and city administration of Erenhot. BGU, for its part, was represented by the pro-rector for scientific and research work, I.K. Sharankhaev, the director of the Institute for Oriental Studies D.I. Burayev, and the vice-director of the Institute for Oriental Studies, I.G. Aktamov. It is no coincidence that representatives of the Institute for Oriental Studies represented BSU, as Oriental Studies excels as one of the main areas of research at the university that has established ongoing relations with a number of universities in China.
During the meeting, Mr. Sharankhaev spoke briefly about Buryat State University, while Mr. Bao Chun Min talked about the present state of affairs in Erenhot, noting that education is key to the development of the city’s economy. The mayor added that leadership of Erenhot finds the prospect of coordinating its efforts in the educational sphere with Buryat State University to be quite promising. The rector of Erenhot’s institute added Tsyuanshen Zhou also commented that the city administration is focusing on job training to boost its economy, particularly through the Erenhot Institute, and that the mayor came to negotiations with BGU personally with the intent to establish greater cooperation. As a result of the meeting, both parties proposed the signing of a cooperation agreement spelling out the so-called “2+2” program, where students can learn for two years in their native university and, in the following two years, receive training at the partner school.
The three party agreement between BGU, the city of Erenhot, and the Erenhot International Institute at the Inner Mongolia Normal University was signed by Buryat State University’s pro-rector, I.K. Sharankhaev, and, on the Chinese side, by the mayor of Erenhot, Bao Chun Min.