LMU «Rational Nature Management» at Irkutsk SAU

From 08 to 15 September 2026, on the basis of the Irkutsk State Agrarian University named after A.A. Yezhevsky, the advanced training program “Rational Nature Management” of the Summer Multidisciplinary University of the Russian-African Network University (LMU RAFU) was implemented.

The growing attention in recent years to the development of Russian-African academic cooperation, as well as the increasing number of African students in Russian universities, contributes to the search for new directions and forms of interaction. The most in-demand directions implemented by universities within the framework of the Russian-African Network University are the issues of sustainable development of African countries and their priority economic sectors. Cooperation with RAFU makes the best practices available to all its participants, provides access to a unified educational space and resources. 

This program on the basis of our university has been implemented for the third year in a row, but this year for the first time under a state assignment grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia for specialists from Burkina Faso. Among the participants were both master's students and honored workers of the agro-industrial complex of Burkina Faso, whose activities are related to the rational use of natural resources, green energy, animal husbandry and sustainable development of rural areas. 

Head of the Department of Hunting Management and Bioecology of the Institute of Natural Resource Management (INRM) Vashukevich E.V. and translator - Annenkova A.V. with colleagues from the INRM and the international service of Irkutsk SAU throughout the entire time introduced the participants of the program to the biodiversity of Siberia, the types and principles of rational nature management, legal and social aspects of sustainable nature management, methods of accounting and processing data on the number of hunting animal species and other issues. The participants attended lectures in various museums: Hunting Management of Irkutsk SAU, FSBI “Zapovednoye Pribaikalye”, Medicinal Herbs and Minerals, in the museum of flora and fauna of ISU. They visited the unique fruit “Garden of Baimasheva T.I.”, laid out on the initiative of LLC “Irkutsk Fat and Oil Combine”, where they could taste and see how fruits and berries are grown in Siberia, also visited Baikal and got acquainted with the expositions of the Baikal Limnological Museum and visited the historical and ethnographic museum “Taltsy”. 

In their response, the participants noted that the training program allowed the participants to gain the best practical experience and knowledge in the field of rational use of natural resources, contributed to the improvement of their professional, including interdisciplinary competencies, allowing graduates of the program to navigate in current problems of studying and preserving biological diversity, to carry out an effective search for their solution through scientific-methodological, organizational-legal and economic mechanisms of regulation of nature management and environmental protection, and also, which is no less important, provided an opportunity for interethnic communication and acquaintance with the traditions and culture of Russia in general, and Siberia in particular. 

Following the results of the program implementation, an exchange of views took place on possible cooperation at the level of concluding partnership agreements between the represented universities from Burkina Faso and Irkutsk SAU University, on the training of African students within the quotas of the Government of the Russian Federation.

The participants of the project gave a short presentation on the results of the program, noted the high level of teachers of Irkutsk SAU. Vice-Rector for International Cooperation, Professor Repetsky O.V., delivered a response speech on the importance of cooperation between Russia and Burkina Faso from the Sahel region of West Africa, who also presented the participants with a state-standard Russian certificate of advanced training.