One former Missouri Southern student’s foreign exchange experience turned into an international agreement.

Yugra State University, located in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, signed an international education exchange with Southern on Feb. 17.

The agreement will allow faculty and students from both institutions to visit and study at the other institution.

“[Southern] is honored that you have chosen our university to be your partner,” said University President Julio León. “We are very pleased to be signing this agreement.”

Evgeny Maslov, an alumnus of Southern, came to the United States in 1998.

He was a high school foreign exchange student in Carthage.

He became acquainted with Southern and made the decision to attend and graduate with a degree in criminal justice and a minor in CIS.

Maslov’s mother, Natalia Maslova, chairman of the Information Resources Committee at YSU, visited Southern in 2003 and said she was impressed with the area and its residents.

“At my son’s graduation,” Natalia said, “I saw with my own eyes the quality of the programs, equipment and the faculty that [Southern] has.”

Three years later, a delegation from YSU, including Natalia, returned to sign a new foreign exchange program between the two universities.

“[YSU] is ready for this relationship,” Natalia said.

“The signing was a very exciting event, but also a very nerve racking moment.”

The rest of the delegation was made up of Elena Lapshina, head of YSU’s international department, and Tatiana Karminskaia, vice rector of YSU.

The delegation said they were welcomed to Southern with “much interest and goodwill” by the students and faculty.

When Southern students visit YSU, they will visit one of Russia’s newest universities, which has about

3,500 students.

The university sits on an area where 60 percent of Russia’s oil and natural gas are developed.

The university itself is about 400 miles south of the Arctic Circle and temperatures can drop down to 50

degrees below zero.

The delegation members said they were going to take back “more than just a signed document.”

“As a result of these talks, there are many programs that we would like to

work on,” Natalia said.

“We will promote the information about Missouri Southern to as many students as possible.

“We plan on making presentations about our visit to the faculty and student body [at YSU].”

“We hope this agreement will lead to a very long lasting relationship between these two institutions,” Karminskaia said.

“And, that in students studying both here and in Russia, we will have the best of the two [institutions.]”