Field trip by students and lecturers from the Faculty of Life Sciences to the partner university in Vologda, Russia.
Kleve/Kamp-Lintfort, 14 June 2016: The partnership between Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences and the State Academy of Dairy Science has been in place since 2013 and, until now, has largely been limited to visiting professors from each institution in Kleve and Vologda. As part of the field trip, students from the ‘Agribusiness’, ‘Sustainable Agriculture’ and ‘Quality, Safety, Environment and Hygiene’ degree programmes now had the opportunity, for the first time, to get to know the partner university. The students who took part in the excursion came from Germany, the Netherlands, Cameroon and Australia.
With a population of around 300,000, Vologda is an administrative and economic centre in north-western Russia. Vologda’s dairy industry is of national importance in Russia. With around 4,000 students, the State Academy of Dairy Industry trains highly qualified graduates for the region’s dairy sector. Vologda butter, kefir and other dairy products are the pride of the region. The students were able to experience for themselves the quality and flavour of these products during their visit and a tasting session at the local dairy.
In addition, the participants visited a bakery and the region’s economic development agency, and took part in the academic conference ‘First Steps in Science’, organised by the Faculty of Agricultural Economics. The paper on ‘Organic certification as an indicator of sustainability’ by HSRW students Johannes Meyer zu Drewer, Lena Schumacher and Melanie Adele Wilson was awarded the prize for the best paper at the conference.
Alongside academic discussions, the focus was on cultural exchange. During their visit to a local open-air museum, the participants learnt not only about living conditions in a Russian village in the 18th and 19th centuries but also about traditional craft techniques; played an exciting football match against students from the partner university, and enjoyed the proverbial Russian hospitality at a joint barbecue evening. The meeting between students from both universities in a relaxed atmosphere led to a lively exchange about student life and student organisations in both cities.
To round off the trip, the excursion took them to Saint Petersburg, where the city’s 313th anniversary was being celebrated with an extensive cultural programme. On their departure from Russia, the participants not only had souvenirs of this trip in their luggage, but also returned to Kleve highly motivated to further develop and deepen this fruitful partnership. The participants would like to thank the Förderverein Hochschule Rhein-Waal e.V. for its financial support of the excursion. Special thanks also go to Maria Serebrennikova from the partner university, as well as to everyone else involved on the ground, whose dedication and creativity made it possible to plan this excursion and facilitate this exchange.
The following link leads to a report by a local Russian television station documenting the excursion group’s stay in Vologda: http://вести35.рф/news/vologda/studenty-iz-germanii-khotyat-stazhirovat…
