An official opening of the branch of Francisk Skorina Gomel State University on the basis of Shanghai Professional Institute of Industry, Commerce and Foreign Languages (PRC) was organized on December 8, 2017. Doctor of Chemistry, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Professor Alexander Rogachev was appointed its honorary director.

Appropriate agreements were signed between the leaders of the Chinese and Belarusian universities. Gomel State University leaders – Rector Sergey A. Khakhomov and the director of the research physicochemical institute Alexander V. Rogachev attended the opening ceremony.

Branch of Gomel State University was established due to the Agreement on joint training of specialists between the educational institutions of the Republic of Belarus and the People's Republic of China. In accordance with this Agreement, full academic exchange of teachers and students from both countries will be maintained, as well as joint trainings for specialists.

Chinese students studying at Gomel Institute in Shanghai will get the status of both partner universities. Within 2.5 years they will be trained in China, after they continue their studies at Francisk Skorina Gomel State University for a period of 2 or 4 years. According to the professional training results, foreign students will get a bachelor's or master's degree in "Russian Philology. Students of Gomel State University will be able to attend the training courses at Shanghai Professional Institute of Industry, Commerce and Foreign Languages in 2018.