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• the Institute of Languages and Culture of the Peoples of the North-
East of the Russian Federation;
• the Institute of Foreign Philology and Regional Studies.
The NEFU attaches great importance to language education and study of
language processes. There are three philological divisions in the University.
As far back as 1991, Yakutsk State University established a department of
northern philology within the Philological Faculty. It was initially lead by the
unforgettable Vasily Robbek, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the
Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Over a relatively short period the department has
significantly strengthened the intellectual elite of Even, Evenki and Yukaghir
peoples. Before the establishment of the department there were only 8 Even
schools, 2 Evenki schools and 1 Yukaghir school. Now the graduates of the
department work in 20 regions of the republic as teachers of Even, Evenki,
Yukaghir languages and literature, school psychologists, kindergarten teacher,
some of them are employed by the National Broadcasting Company Sakha,
the Institute of Humanitarian Research and Indigenous Peoples of the North
of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences. In total, 269 highly
qualified linguists – representatives of the Even, Evenki and Yukaghir peoples
have graduated from the department.
The Institute of languages and cultures of the NEFU has initiated an
experimental study of the effectiveness of educating children in their native
language. Experts collect materials related to the Yakut language and
the languages of the peoples of the North-East of the Russian Federation
and create an acoustic archive. Special attention is paid to the teaching of
languages, culture and literature, and to the translation from Russian and
foreign languages into indigenous languages of the Russian North-East.
In July 2010, the Centre to Advance Multilingualism in Cyberspace was
established in the NEFU, which contributed greatly to organizing the Second
Conference on Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace. Problems and
prospects of the Centre were discussed at the seminar held at the NEFU with
participation of Evgeny Kuzmin, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Council
and Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Programme.
In November 2010, Yakutsk hosted an offsite meeting of the Committee of the
Federation Council of the Russian Federation on the North and Indigenous
Peoples "On the use of modern information technologies for preservation
and development of the languages, culture and spirituality of the peoples of
the North (the case of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia))." The NEFU played
an active part in the event and organized a special round-table discussion on
November 17, 2010. All suggestions made by the NEFU were supported and
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