Vera Smorchkova, Professor, Doctor of Economics, and head of the Development Management of the Russian North training program, led the group of eight professional development students who are from the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in northern Russia.
The student group from the Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service, of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), visited the University of Lapland and met with Faculty and staff, including Professor of Administrative Science, Timo Aarrevaara of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and UArctic’s Director of Governance Support, Pierre-André Forest.
The group also visited the university’s Arctic Centre, and met with Director Timo Koivurova and Marcin Dymet, Junior Researcher at the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law.
Also, the group met with representatives of the Regional Council of Lapland, including the Mayor of the City of Rovaniemi, Esko Lotvonen, to discuss regional and local government administrative practices.