Merseburg University of Applied Sciences celebrated its 25th Anniversary. The representatives of Saxony-Anhalt federal state government, including the Minister of Education of the Saxony-Anhalt (ex-rector of Merseburg University of Applied Sciences), key partners and other distinguished guests were invited to this remarkable event.

The delegation of KNRTU was headed by Vice Rector for Academic Affairs – Professor Alexandr Kochnev. In his congratulatory speech he extended sincere congratulations on behalf of Kazan National Research Technological University. Professor Kochnev expressed his confidence that high interaction level between two universities is only possible after many years of cooperation, friendship, trust and after decades of successful contacts. He emphasized the idea that partnership between Merseburg University of Applied Sciences and Kazan National Research Technological University would enhance successfully for many years ahead with various new projects, initiatives and achievements.

The history of the partnership between KNRTU and Merseburg University of Applied Sciences extends back about 50 years. Hochschule Merseburg is the oldest and one of the most valuable partners of our university. KNRTU is proud of the partnership history which started with the visits of Kazan scientists to Technical University Leuna-Merseburg in 1967. The first scientist was Petr Kirpichnikov, the rector of Kazan Institute of Chemical Technology (now KNRTU), who worked at Buna Werke near Merseburg as a Chief Engineering Officer in the 1950s. The history of the partnership is marked by intensive academic and research cooperation. Professor Gert Naue, the rector of Technical University Leuna-Merseburg, professors Straube, Poltersdorf and many others visited Kazan and KNRTU. In their turn, our professors took part in various seminars dedicated to modification and deformation of polymers in Merseburg University of Applied Sciences. Our best students visited Merseburg for academic exchange for many decades. Everybody found warm welcome and hospitality there. We developed and implemented a joint degree programs several years ago. We created special groups of students who learned German language to apply for this program and study in Merseburg to get both German and Russian diplomas of higher education. The delegation of Merseburg University headed by its Rector, Professor Jörg Kirbs visited Kazan last year to discuss further development of our joint degree programs and other collaboration opportunities.