Representatives of the General Consulate of the Republic of Korea in Irkutsk visited TSU recently. Shin Kyuho, deputy general consul, and Park Jongmyung, a technical staff member of the Department of Culture, discussed the possibilities of cooperation in science and education, especially in the field of biotechnologies and exchange programs, with TSU faculties, laboratories, and administration.
“By establishing cooperation with universities, we strive to promote Korean studies, establish and strengthen the ties and support academic exchange between the universities of the Republic of Korea and Russia,” said Shin Kyuho, deputy general consul of the Republic of Korea.
TSU Vice-Rector for International Affairs, Artyom Rykun, gave the guests a brief introduction to the university’s history, educational and research possibilities for teachers and students, and sports and cultural life of the university. He noted that Tomsk State University has a long history of collaboration with leading research and educational centers of the Republic of Korea.
Timofey Chekalkin, a senior researcher of the Laboratory of Superelastic Biological Interfaces, shared his personal experience and the experience of the Laboratory for Medical Alloys and Shape Memory Implants, which actively collaborated with the University of Ulsan and Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University Hospital. In 2017, the partners organized a conference “Shape memory biomaterials and implants in medicine” in Busan.
“In 2021, our laboratory and Boramae Medical Center applied for a grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia and the Ministry of Science and ICT of the Republic of Korea. Our project “Creation of an integrated technology for the production and study of the operational properties of new generation bioresorbable implants for the regeneration of bone tissue” won second place from the Korean side. Now we await the decision of the Russian ministry,” said Timofey Chekalkin.
He noted that Korean scientists and TSU scientists have jointly published more than twenty articles and three monographs, and acquired one international patent together.
Larisa Andronova, assistant professor at the Department of Oriental Studies, added that TSU has been organizing Korean language courses and workshops on Korean art. Since 2019 TSU students have been able to listen to online courses in the Korean and English languages by Ewha University and the University of Seoul.
“The visit was very positive. We hope that it will be a start of a closer collaboration of our scientists and teachers with their Korean colleagues and that in future we will see more students from Korea at TSU,” – Artyom Rykun summed up.
