A student of the Higher IT School of Tomsk State University Mina Meshel Eshak Dawoud Mikhaeil fr om Egypt won the regional stage of the All-Russian competition for international students StudRussia and was awarded the best international student of the Siberian Federal District. Mina was also invited to the final of the competition in Moscow as a representative of Tomsk and Tomsk State University.
The competition is held by the University of Science and Technology MISIS with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation to promote talented foreign citizens in Russia.
Tomsk State University actively works with international students. More than 3,700 international students from 67 countries study at TSU, which is 23.7% of the total number of students. The leader in the number of students from neighboring countries is Kazakhstan, from countries outside the CIS – China. Tomsk State University also has the largest diaspora of Indonesian students in Russia.
At the regional stage of StudRussia in Krasnoyarsk, Mina Mikhaeil was awarded the Grand Prix “Best International Student”. Mina participated in the nominations “Russian Language and Culture”, “Goodbess without Borders” and “Generation Leader” and proved to be a versatile active and successful student. He was recognized as the absolute winner of the competition in the Russian-language track and the best student in Siberia.
According to Mina, the TSU Center for Academic Mobility and the Higher IT School supported him a lot. Besides, due to the participation in many university events, Mina managed to collect an impressive portfolio and gain experience in social activities.
— I am grateful to the university for all the opportunities. I was a volunteer in the student association TSU-online and organized different events, – said Mina Mikhaeil. – I also represented TSU in 2024 at the regional Olympiad in Russian as a foreign language under the leadership of Valentina Manashova and became its winner, participated in many other competitions related to the Russian language. Moreover, due to the management of social and youth policy of TSU, I had the opportunity to take part in the World Youth Festival in Nizhny Novgorod.
TSU implements various support programs for international students. It has a department for social adaptation and support for international students as part of the International Division of the university. Mina shared this experience at the StudRussia competition.
— At the regional stage all participants of the competition had to make a self-presentation and participate in Business Games, wh ere the experts evaluated our leadership and communication skills. There was also a round table discussion for the representatives of different universities. Participation was voluntary – only a small part of the contestants got there. I was honored to represent TSU: I told how the adaptation of international students was organized at our university and what kind of support they receive fr om the university, – said Mina Mikhaeil.
According to the results of the second stage of the competition, 112 international students from all federal districts of the Russian Federation were chosen for the competition. Mina is among 14 representatives of the Siberian Federal District who will go to the final events in Moscow. There will also be a solemn ceremony of awarding the winners.
After the award, Mina will stay in Moscow – he will fight for the title of the best student of the year in a competition from the Russian Youth Union. This is the all-Russian stage of the competition, which will also be held in December in Moscow.
We shall remind that earlier students of Tomsk State University achieved success at the regional competition “Student of the Year-2025” in the nomination “International Student of the Year” wh ere Mina Mikhaeil got the second place, and Gleb Danilov from Kazakhstan – the third.