UN Coordinator for Translator Training Program Visits MSLU

On February 8, Anna Uspenskaya, the UN Coordinator for the Training Programme for Candidates for the Competitive Language Examinations, Deputy Chief of the Russian Section of the UN Geneva Interpretation Service, a simultaneous interpreter who worked at the UN for 15 years, visited MSLU with an official visit.

At the meeting, Larisa Petrushak, the First Vice-Rector for Educational Activities, Vladimir Storozhev, the Vice-Rector for International Activities, and Irina Shokina, the Head of the International Cooperation and Internationalization Department, the head of the Training Programme and its coordinator at MSLU, as well as Varvara Kozlova, the head of the Department of Cooperation with International and Foreign Organizations at ICID and the program curator, discussed with Anna the prospects for cooperation. They talked about full-time and remote internships for program participants, about master classes that will be conducted for students by active simultaneous interpreters from UN offices in New York, Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi, and their supporting the UN Translation Model, which traditionally takes place at the end of May.

One of the main topics of the meeting was the success of six program graduates who successfully passed the competitive language exams in 2023 and were enrolled in the Global Language Roster of the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management. In total, about 300 applications were submitted, and fewer than 20 candidates successfully passed the exams. It is worth noting that from 2018 to 2022, ten graduates successfully passed the exam, and are now allowed to work at the UN on a freelance basis.

After the meeting, Anna conducted a session on simultaneous interpretation with the program participants. The students highly appreciated the opportunity to personally meet the UN coordinator, with whom they had previously worked in a remote format. Anna also gave an interview to Alexandra Belova from the Youth Policy and Cultural Affairs Department and Miron Makarov, an activist from the student media center Inyaz Production. The recording can be viewed on February 22 at 12:00 in the assembly hall of MSLU during the presentation of the Translator Training Program for working in international organizations and competitive language exams as part of the Open Day for additional education.