TOMSK, Dec 20 – RIA Tomsk. Baasandorj Gantumur, a
Tomsk State University (TSU) graduate, has become rector of Khovd University in
Mongolia, the university's press service said on Monday.
"Gantumur
B., a graduate of Tomsk State University, has taken over as rector of Khovd
State University in Mongolia. He was one of the first three students to come to
study at TSU from far abroad," the statement said.
According
to the press service, Gantumur met TSU Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs
Alexander Revushkin on an expedition to Mongolian Altai in 1996. On the way
back, Revushkin suggested that three Mongolian students, including Gantumur,
come to study in Tomsk.
"When
we went to Tomsk, they were very shy and I tried to cheer them up. We started
figuring out what their names would be in Russia. I suggested that Ayurdzan
become Yura, Daegdehei, despite my comments that it was a woman's name, decided
to become Dasha, but Gantumur refused the name Gena. After all, his name is
translated from Mongolian as "iron"...," the press service
quotes the former vice-rector's recollections.
According
to the university's press service, Mongolian students studied at TSU for a
year. Gantumur studied chemistry and Russian, and after returning to Mongolia,
he went on to pursue science and defended his doctoral thesis in chemistry.
"TSU
and Khovd University continue their cooperation even now, 25 years later. Every
two years a traditional interdisciplinary conference "Natural conditions,
history and culture of Western Mongolia and adjacent regions" is held, a
number of joint research projects are implemented. Within the framework of the
universities' joint activities, teacher retraining and professional development
programs have been launched," reads the statement.