MGU BRANCH IN SEVASTOPOL GOES INTERNATIONAL








SIMFEROPOL, March 3. /RIA Novosti correspondent Svetlana Tumanova/. The Black Sea branch of Moscow State University (MGU) in Sevastopol (a Ukrainian naval port where a Russian fleet is also based) will in the next few years become a full-fledged institute training thousands of international-level specialists, said MGU rector Academician Viktor Sadovnichy in the course of his trip to Crimea. 


	On Friday and Saturday Sadovnichy met with senior officials of the Supreme Council of Crimea, the command of the Black Sea of the Russian Federation, and faculty and students of the Black Sea branch of the MGU.


	The MGU Black Sea branch has been functioning in Sevastopol since September 1, 2000. This is the first and only institute in Ukraine where all instruction is done in Russian, on Russian curricula and syllabi and by MGU lecturers chosen by competition. At the moment the branch has four faculties with 11 specialisations and a student body of 200.


	During his meetings with Crimea residents the MGU rector described as "arch-serious" the suppression of the Russian language in Ukraine and Crimea and its gradual ousting from the educational sphere.


	Sadovnichy also assessed as "utter stupidity" a report that officials in Ukraine do not recognise candidates and doctors of science who obtained their degrees in Russia. According to the academician, the current head of Ukraine's VAK (Supreme Certifying Commission) himself defended his doctoral thesis in Moscow.