MSU Biology Students Complete Field Internship at Kabardino-Balkarian State University
Third-year students from the Department of Higher Plants, Faculty of Biology, of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University completed their internship at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh.M. Berbekov.
The internship was supervised by Professor Alexander Sergeevich Zernov, Doctor of Biological Sciences and a renowned researcher of the Caucasus flora and a specialist in biodiversity conservation and nature reserves. It was held as part of a cooperation agreement between the two leading Russian universities.
During their stay in the republic, the MSU students gained valuable information about the flora of Kabardino-Balkaria and significant practical experience in studying the region’s vegetation. The future biologists visited the Cherek and Elbrus districts, where they became acquainted with the unique high-mountain ecosystems of the Central Caucasus.
An important part of the program included an introduction to KBSU’s leading scientific and collection sites. The students visited the Botanical Garden Scientific and Educational Center and the L.Kh. Slonov Herbarium, a teaching and research laboratory. The herbarium was established in the 1960s on the initiative of Ludin Khachimovich Slonov, a distinguished scientist and founder of a scientific school in the fields of physiology, ecology, and lichenology of the North Caucasus. It is included in the register of herbarium repositories worldwide. The herbarium collection contains named specimens dating back to 1922.
Professor Zernov and the MSU students expressed their deep gratitude to the KBSU staff for the warm welcome, excellent working and living conditions, and comprehensive assistance and support during their internship.
It is worth noting that cooperation between KBSU and MSU has a long history and is actively developing in many areas. The universities collaborate within the Vernadsky-Kabardino-Balkaria scientific and educational consortium, established in 2019, and regularly hold joint events for student scientific societies. In July 2026, the parties also signed a memorandum of cooperation in tourism and cultural diplomacy.