The rector of the Slavonic University of Chisinau Tatiana Mlechko said fewer people want to study at teacher training faculties, especially the Russian philology departments, Info-Prim Neo reports. “A lower number of young people graduate from the departments of Russian philology. The Moldovan young persons do not often go to Russia. It is mainly their parents who go to work in this country, while the young people do not familiarize themselves with the Russian language and culture,” Tatiana Mlechko said in a Chisinau – Moscow videoconference held on the occasion of the Russian Culture Days in Moldova. According to her, the Russian speakers in Moldova have always formed part of the elite of society and had a rich culture, but if the new generations learn about Russia only from books and through the mass media, this group of people may disappear. “More Moldovan young persons should go to Russia to study,” she stated. Alexei Vlasov, pro-dean of the Faculty of History of the Moscow State University, believes the exchange of students between Russia and Moldova will be beneficial for the bilateral relations and will contribute to the training of specialists in the area of culture of the two countries. “We have only one student from Moldova at our faculty. He came on his own initiative, but we are open for cooperation and a possible exchange of students,” he said. He also said that studies made in former Soviet states showed that the teachers of Russian are mainly elderly persons aged over 50. Alexei Vlasov considers that if the number of teachers of Russian language and literature continues to decrease, the number of persons studying at Russian institutions will also diminish and these institutions may be thus closed.