From October 13 to 16, Irkutsk will host the second All Russian student civic patriotic forum Russia our home, bringing together 160 student leaders from across the country. Participants will discuss civic patriotism, present projects and best practices, and select initiatives recommended for Russian universities.

In Irkutsk, from October 13 to 16 of this year, the second All-Russian Student Civic and Patriotic Forum “Russia Is Our Home” will be held, founded by Irkutsk National Research Technical University. The forum is organized with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Siberian Federal District, the Government of the Irkutsk Region, and the Russian Center for Civic and Patriotic Education of Children and Youth. The forum will open on October 13 at 13:00 at the IrNITU Technopark.
As the forum director, chairman of the IrNITU student trade union organization Sergey Anosov, said, the university is ready to welcome 160 student leaders—patriots from across the country. “The forum participants are students with an active civic stance who have real initiatives in the field of civic patriotism. Following the first forum, ‘Russia Is Our Home,’ the participants developed 20 projects and 185 patriotic events that were implemented at 160 Russian universities with the participation of 125,000 students. For more than two months now, the forum website has been hosting a competition of patriotic projects implemented at universities across our country. Anyone who wishes may take part in the competition. During the forum, experts will evaluate each initiative, and the three best practical experiences will be recommended to all Russian universities, while their authors will receive valuable gifts. 255 students have already shared their work,” Sergey Anosov said.
In his opinion, an important result of the first forum can be considered the formation of a team of like-minded people. Throughout the year, having joined forces, the students promoted joint civic-patriotic projects. “Today it is very important for young people to understand for themselves such concepts as the state, society, patriotism, love for their homeland, their loved ones, and so on. The task, including that of the university, is to help a young person decide on values and priorities, to create a certain ideological foundation for them so that they can quickly and effectively develop as a person and integrate into society,” said acting rector of IrNITU Alexander Afanasyev.
The forum program includes work in three sections: Section A – “Student Clubs of Patriotic Orientation”; Section B – “Volunteering and Civic Patriotism”; Section C – “Project Constructor.” As part of the panel discussion “Civic Patriotism in Russia,” student leaders will discuss the problems of developing civic patriotism and present their views on society and the state. The invited forum moderators are: Director of the Institute of Political Communications of the University of Professional Politics Andrey Khudoleyev, member of the coordination council of the NGO “Young Guard” Irina Volodchenko, and head of the federal program “Student RE-organization” Egor Yakorev.
The event will conclude with a summary of the best practices in Russia and the development of methodological recommendations for holding events and projects in universities in 2015 aimed at strengthening civic legal awareness and patriotism.