Makhachkala has hosted the All-Russian Research Conference ‘The Phenomenon of Extremism, Terrorism and Xenophobia in the North Caucasus: Factors of Genesis, Ways and Methods of Resistance’. Tutors and students from the Psychology and Philosophy Department of Dagestan State University participated in it. The event was organized by the Ministry for Youth Affairs of the RD and the Psychology and Philosophy Department of DSU. Leading Russian experts from Moscow, Tatarstan and Chechnya, as well as representatives of the local scientific community took part in the conference. Participants were greeted by the Deputy Minister for Youth Affairs of the republic, Ahmedula Dibirov, who noted that in the modern world the problem of nationalism, xenophobia, political extremism was especially topical. Young people are often the main participants of new cases of nationalism. The contingent reacts to changes in society especially sharply – hatred and non-admission toward representatives of different nationalities, religions and races.
This is not the first significant event in Dagestan State University, which is becoming an intellectual platform for such forums not by accident.
Murtazali Rabadanov, the Rector of Dagestani State University, told Vestnik Kavkaza that “Dagestan State University is a classical university. We received university status in 1957, making us the 15th university of the Soviet Union. In this sense, we are a classic example of the classical university created in the Soviet Union. We have a wide range of training areas, we are preparing specialists in 24 integrated groups, specialities. We have 16,000 students, 18 faculties, 103 departments, we have the largest higher education research library in the North Caucasus, there are 2.5 million volumes in our library.”
Speaking about cooperation with Russian universities, Murtazali Rabadanov notes that there is “very close interaction”: “We are in the same educational environment, trying to build its policy regarding the academic mobility of students and teachers, so that our students may travel often to leading universities, our teachers may travel to the leading universities of the Russian Federation. And on the other hand, we have launched a program according to which we are inviting leading professors of the leading educational and research institutions of the Russian Federation to our university to give lectures. We have many joint research projects, we hold many conferences jointly with universities from all over the Russian Federation.”
As for international contacts, the Rector of DSU stressed contacts with Azerbaijan: “With our neighbor, we cooperate within the framework of bilateral agreements with Azerbaijani universities, as well as through various associations. From these regional associations, I can name you the Association of Universities of the Caspian States, which includes our Russian universities, Kazakh universities, universities of Azerbaijan and Iran. We have very good cooperation with the Azerbaijani universities through this association. In addition, we have a bilateral agreement, good interaction with Baku State University, the Azerbaijani Technical University, with the Azerbaijani State University of Oil and Industry.”
