Dushanbe. June 22. “Asia-Plus” -- Apart from special courses for diplomats and programmers, the branch office of the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University in Dushanbe has opened the third group “Hydrogeology and engineering geology”.

Haidar Odinaev, Executive Director of the MSU branch in Dushanbe said that “both hydrogeology and engineering geology are vital for Tajikistan. The country extremely needs in highly professional specialists in these spheres and we have taken this fact into account during the design of our curriculum. Last year we had only two directions – International Relations and Applied Mathematics and Informatics.”

The branch office is planning to accept 75 students, 25 to each group, in 2010-2011 academic year. At that each group has 10 so-called “state-financed” seats. The branch office has well-equipped chemistry and physics laboratories. Additionally, the university has a lecture hall, electronic library, language lab and canteen.

“Benefits of the branch office lie in a very strong education base. MSU is one of the biggest universities in Russia and it is recognized in all countries of the world. 70% of our teachers are specialists from MSU who are accommodated in our small hotel located on the 9th floor of the building. The hotel is able to accommodate 14 people and has all required conveniences. We have quite serious selection criteria for teachers from Tajikistan,” Odinaev has said.

He said that entrance exams in MSU end earlier as compared to other universities and this allows entrants to submit their documents to other universities of Tajikistan in case of failure.

Students will defend their thesis in Moscow. “It is not easy to enter this university with today’s level of school knowledge. Entrants are recommended to hire tutors to increase their knowledge. Last year I did not even think that I would study here. But I worked hard to study specific subjects and Russian language,” a student of MSU’s branch in Dushanbe Ulugbek Odinaev has said.