International summer school for Altai students

In the Summer of 2003, not far from the village of Chemal in the Altai Republic, the first session of International Summer School took place, hosting students from all over Greater Altai.  The School struck a resonance with the youth of the region, forming close friendships between the students of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China.  The session was organized as the beginning of one of the most interesting and, in the opinion of the organizers, the most promising projects of the international coordinating council, “Our Common Home, Altai.”  The permanent coordinator and organizer of the School is the Fund for 21^st Century Altai. 

Since that first session, the International Summer School has been organized annually for students of the Altai region.  Participants are student delegates from the major institutions of higher education in Greater Altai.  The sessions, like the ancient nomads, “roam” about Altai: they have taken place in Khovda (Mongolia), Ust’-Kamenogorsk (Eastern Kazakhstan), Kolyvan’ (Altai Krai, Russia), and Chemal (Altai Republic, Russia).  In 2009, the school was hosted by the rebellious Xinjiang-Uigur autonomous region of China (in Urumqi).  The permanent director of the School is the vice-president of the Fund for 21^st Century Altai, the Head of the Department of Philosophy at Altai State Agricultural University, A.V. Ivanov.

The goal of the International Summer School is acquainting the student youth of Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and China; establishing academic ties; and participation in joint solutions to the problems of Greater Altai.  Key topics of these international forums include: the common history of the Altai people, and challenges to ensuring the ecological security and sustainable development of Altai.  Of course, the choice of topics for discussion is not coincidental: what our neighbors fight for, one way or another, concerns us as well.  As the participants in the School have noticed, culture and historic legacy are what unite our people in the first place.  For example, to whom is the Katun’ River considered sacred?  Only to the indigenous Altai people?  And what about the Russian Orthodox believers who baptize their children in the river?  Why are there so many similar elements in Altai, Mongolian, and Russian ornamentation?  The Schools’ subject matter is always based on the search for unifying aspects in the culture and historical development of the peoples of Greater Altai.  Not that the student participants in the Schools studiously avoid discussing sharp corners in the region’s history, of which there are admittedly many—but in this case, it is not the argument that is important, but the what the students take away from it.  The discussions are always animated around ecological issues.  As we all know, nature knows no borders, and this becomes especially clear during the discussions.  Only cooperative efforts can solve the most serious common problems which face Greater Altai: stopping desertification and deforestation; solving the problem of freshwater scarcity; and most importantly, developing a model of regional development which preserves its unique natural territories. 

In order that findings and conclusions should maintain a positive disposition, the discussions are always facilitated by commentary from the School’s experts: the best professors of the universities in the region.

You could say that a strong professorship is a mandatory condition of any school for university students.  In a week, students literally receive the same volume of knowledge that they would in a whole course on regionalism.  History, economics, politics, cultural issues, ethnography of Greater Altai, ecological security – the academic programs of the Schools are always fully saturated.  After the expert lectures are a series of student presentations.  In order to participate in the School, the students must meet the selection criteria, specifically: academic specialization on the issues of international cooperation in the Altai region; mandatory knowledge of English; and preferably the study of one of the main languages of the region: Chinese, Kazakh, Mongolian, etc. 

In the seven years of the School’s existence, the students of Greater Altai have gradually acquired certain traditions, including the obligatory volleyball match between the students and the professors, with an ever-unpredictable outcome; a tour of the sites of the city where the School is hosted (of which there are never too few); and finally, the creation of a seal and flag for the School, which are different every year.

The students always come away with much to say about the International Schools; each of them is different.  And, of course, a fine illustration of the Schools’ success is the acknowledgement they have received.  In 2006, the International Summer School of students of the Altai region became the recipient of the V.I. Vernadsky Fund and High Ecological Council of the State Duma of the Russian Federation’s “National Ecological Award,” for its contribution to the strengthening of ecological security and sustainable development of Russia.