What is taught in KBSU and how they teach it

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Last weekend, Kabardino-Balkaria State University (KBSU) celebrated its anniversary with the foundation meeting of the Association of Foreign Alumni and Friends of the University. More than 50 prominent graduates came to the university. Yesterday members of the Association began a trip all over the North Caucasus. The president of the university Barasbi Karamurzov told Vestnik Kavkaza about the Association and KBSU’s work.

Karamurzov noted that the Association of Foreign Alumni and Friends of the University is an old idea of KBSU. “The idea of the Association was born long ago, but there were no relevant conditions. We have been involved in the issue for several years – it is not a spontaneous desire or idea. It was well thought out,” the president said. “The main goal of the Association is to coordinate actions of all graduates of KBSU or its friends. These are not only Diaspora’s members, even though the majority of them are Circassians.”

The Association united famous graduators of the university from Jordan, Syria, Turkey, the UAE, Germany, the U.S., Israel, Palestine and those who have close contacts with KBSU.

Barasbi Karamurzov recalled that KBSU was founded as a classic university in the year of the 400th anniversary of Kabarda’s accession to Russia. The first president of the university, Khatuta Berbekov, invited to KBSU world-known scientists in all directions – chemistry, physics, philology, history, biology. “It was a kind of a landing-party of scientists; each of them brought his own students and post-graduate students. So, we received scientific schools in many directions at once. Our goal was to preserve the scientific schools and the spirit of a research university because education and studies are tightly connected in our university,” the president stressed.

“Students appear in a scientific atmosphere from the very beginning. I think we have managed to do it, to preserve the spirit. Six year ago the Academic Board discussed the issue and they developed the principle: in Kabardino-Balkaria State University only active practical scientists can work,” Barasbi Karamurzov said.

Speaking about the work directions of KBSU, he emphasized technical scientific fields: “The physical direction is very powerful, including astrophysics, physics of interfacial phenomena, electric chemistry, polymer chemistry, physical chemistry. Today chemists give more than a half of financed scientific research to our university. We have such technical fields which can be a subject for pride of any university – solid-state electronics and nanoelectronics. I am proud to show equipment of their educational and research labs. We were first in the country who launched the master course on diagnostics of nanomaterials because our material base and labs enabled to do this. Moreover, mechatronics, robotic technologies. Today we are working with the Indian Institute of High Technologies which has two directions only – IT and mechatronics and robotic technologies. I think it is one of the most promising fields.”

According to the president, KBSU “implements about 200 educational programs on the level of intermediate vocational education and higher education. We have the strongest biological department, the human, animal, plant genome lab; many research centers would be jealous of the lab. The medical department where medical business and dentistry are taught is very old and has two PhD Boards. Today we want to develop inter-field directions and establish the North Caucasus Center of Innovative Technologies in Medicine. We have held seven international conferences in different countries, i.e. we have necessary human resources and material base.”