On July 7, the opening ceremony of the “Sino-Russian Summer Cultural Exchange Camp,” jointly organised by Harbin Engineering University (HEU) and Kostroma State University, was held in Conference Room 311 of the main administration building. YIN Hang, Vice President of HEU, and Professor Stepan, Vice Rector of Kostroma State University, attended the event.

On behalf of HEU, Vice President YIN Hang extended a warm welcome to the Russian delegation and provided an overview of HEU’s distinctive academic focus on “shipbuilding, ocean engineering, nuclear energy, and marine technology,” as well as its collaborative history with Russian institutions. He expressed his hope that the visiting faculty and students from Kostroma State University would fully engage with HEU’s scholarly environment and experience the unique allure of Chinese culture throughout the camp, making this exchange a memorable journey that fosters mutual understanding and enduring friendship.

Vice Rector Stepan expressed his gratitude for the thoughtful arrangements and warm hospitality extended by HEU. He shared Kostroma State University’s strengths and scholarly heritage in the humanities and social sciences, and extended a cordial invitation to HEU faculty and students to visit his institution in the future, where they could gain firsthand exposure to Russia’s rich historical and cultural traditions.

During the discussion session, the two sides reviewed their cooperative ties over the past three years and agreed to take this summer camp as an opportunity to further deepen practical collaboration in areas such as social work.

YANG Guoqing, Associate Dean of the College of Humanities, provided a systematic introduction to HEU’s social work programme, covering its disciplinary development, faculty strength, and educational outcomes. WU Ji, Deputy Party Secretary of the School, supplemented the presentation with an overview of the programme’s practical achievements in community governance. Faculty representative JIANG Shijun shared reflections on comparative studies of social work practices in China and Russia, drawing on his teaching experience.

OLGA, Head of the Department of Social Work at Kostroma State University, offered a detailed account of the development trajectory, curriculum structure, and practice-oriented features of social work education in Russia. She placed particular emphasis on exemplary practices in disability social work, elderly social work, and family and health social work, providing valuable insights for mutual learning between the two programmes.