On 12 January 2016 the University of Reading hosted four Russian journalists as part of the Press Tour organised by the British Council Russia, an initiative aimed at promoting awareness and developing a greater understanding of UK education amongst Russian students and their parents.

The journalists represented the leading travel, business and general interest portfolio media companies with strong print and online presence in Russia.

The delegation was warmly welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor Sir David Bell and Head of News, followed by a range of meetings with colleagues from Henley Business School, School of Law, ICMA Centre, Department of Film, Theatre and Television and School of Biological Sciences.

As part of the discussions the delegation learned about various teaching and research partnerships University of Reading has with the Russian universities, such as Moscow State University, MGIMO University, Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, Plekhanov University and Kazan State Medical University.

The journalists also visited the state-of-the-art facilities such as the trading floors of the ICMA Centre equipped with Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg terminals; the £11.4m Minghella building with film, theatre and television specialised production spaces with multimedia equipment, lighting, cutting and sound editing facilities; and biological and biomedical scientific laboratories.

In addition, the journalists had an opportunity to network with postgraduate students from Russia to learn first-hand why they chose to study at the University of Reading what it is like to be a postgraduate student in UK.