Since 2003 traditionally the Shuhov Belgorod State Technological University has been celebrating a week of the African Day between 22-27 May to express its solidarity and recognition of the need for the African countries to speed up their development programmes to cope with the globalisation process. Majority of the developing countries on the African Continent are saddled with different social, economic and political problems which have been aggravated amidst the current general drastic increases in prices of oil and food.

The burning issue for the university in this perspective is to help educate qualified specialists in various fields for the developing countries including foreign students from any African country.

This year, the events, though not as grandiose as they used to be, had however attracted a variety of personalities like the Kenyan Ambassador to Moscow Sospeter Magita Machage and his wife Lyudmila Machage because of their theme. The theme of the celebration was devoted to issues such as nutrition, energy and construction problems of the developing countries.

This year's celebration of the African Day at the university coincided with the holding of the general annual Conference of the Russian Academy of Sciences of Architecture and Construction. The conference, the first of its kind in the history of the university organised by of the Russian Academy of Sciences of Architecture and Construction and the Shuhov State Technological University had as its theme «Healthy population-A strategy of environmental development of life activity» could be considered as an impetus for foreign students from developing countries taking architecture and construction as their specialisation.

The celebration, highlighted by a number of activities such as mini-football matches and the exhibition of traditional and cultural artifacts of the foreign students studying in the university, was co-sponsored by the Centre of International Education and Cooperation, the Preparatory faculty for foreign students, the Department of Physical Education and Sports, the Belgorod Branch of Association of Foreign Students in the Russian Federation and the Belgorod City Federation of Football.