XTRF™ Translation Management Systems is now cooperating with the Volgograd State University. Following the partnership agreement, students from the Faculty of Philology and International Communication will receive a multi-user licence of the XTRF™ Enterprise.

The partnership has been initiated by Nikolay Leonidovich Shamne, the University dean in the Faculty of Philology and International Communication. XTRF™ will hand down the free licence as part of their support for the development and innovation in the training of the future philology staff. The system will be implemented from September 2009 onwards. The students will also receive free training.

Below you can find an interview with Aleksander Shovgenin, the associate dean.

XTRF™: As an introduction, please provide us with some information about your University. How is the Volgograd State University different to other Russian universities? How well-known is the Faculty of Philology and International Communication?

The Volgograd State University is a relatively new organisation, but at the same time, it is vigorous and is the second largest in respect of the numbers of student and lecturers in Volgograd. It is one of the most dynamically developing Russian further education providers and is a member of the Eurasian University Association. Our University has two branches, six faculties and numerous units and laboratories. WUP (Volgograd State University) is amongst the top universities on the local educational market, thanks to effective and unique qualities, including:

• broad educational and didactic knowledge and experience of our teaching staff, that has been gathered during the 29 years of the university operation
• modern ways of teaching, as a response to the educational market requirements, which were a result of continuous professional development of the teaching staff and the University leading team
• facilitating learning with the latest technical equipment and IT infrastructure
• variety of organisation structure and levels as well as study period flexibility
• flexibility of marketing policy in the educational services area
• care for the University's image, which is being created by lecturers, support staff, students and graduates.

The University has become the co-organiser and host of the Russian Economic Forum, which proved our innovative attitude in the region.

In 2009 Bureau Veritas Certification, the widely recognised certification body, granted the Volgograd State University certificates which confirm our quality management system being compliant with the international norm ISO 9001:2008. The process was based on the accreditation of UKAS (United Kingdom), ANAB (USA) and GOST R (Russian Federation). The Volgograd University is the first state further education provider in Volgograd, which has been granted the ISO 9001:2008 certificate.

The Faculty of Philology and International Communication, with over 1000 students, is the leading regional faculty providing education for philologists, journalists, writers and translators. Our graduates include radio and TV reporters, state and federal press journalists, translators (specialising in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian), ministry officers, as well as state and international office and organisation employees.

Our Faculty also operates the Slavic Languages and Cultures Centre (offering courses in Polish, Bulgarian, Czech and Serb languages and Russian for foreigners) as well as the Eastern Languages and Cultures Centre (courses in Chinese, Korean, Turkish and Arab languages). In 2005 we opened the Translation and International Communication Centre and we have since gained broad experience in managing large translation projects. Our lecturers and final year students took part in the translation of ‘Economical Encyclopaedia of the Regions of Russia - the Volgograd Region' into German and English (adding up to 60 signatures¹). They also prepared and published a Russian-English-German-French dictionary ‘a translator's first aid kit' (30 signatures) and provide simultaneous translation services for conferences and international seminars, during which they use modern equipment. We are currently working on translating such reference books as ‘The Battle of Stalingrad' and ‘The Volgograd Region' into German and English (adding up to 140 signatures).

Within our Faculty learning about innovative, modern technology is of paramount importance. Our students have direct access to four computer labs with Internet connection. Lectures and classes incorporate the use of modern technology for presentation purposes and students themselves get the chance to work on their own presentations with the use of modern equipment.

Since 2007 we have been following a teaching programme for students covering not only modern ways of translation, but also translation organisation management. For this purpose we have been using SDL International products (such as Trados and MultiTerm) and MS Project software.

XTRF™: How did you find out about XTRF™ system and why has it raised your interest?

We found out about the XTRF™ software from a provider newsletter. We had a look at your website and realised that XTRF™ will soon become one of the most popular products for translation companies. This will result in a growing need for specialists in this area.

XTRF™:  What are you hoping to achieve with the use of XTRF™?

Our Faculty aims to educate highly qualified staff, who will be competitive on the market. We want our graduates to be able to create an innovative-thinking working environment around them. We are positive that working with XTRF™ will enrich our lecturers' and students' qualifications, and will become part of best practice within the translation management area. Getting to know this system will not only make us more competitive, as compared to other universities, but will also enable us to organise and develop our own translation activity.

1. 1 signature equals to 40,000 characters, which adds up to about 22.2 pages or 5,600 words (translator's note)