After settling their accommodation and purchasing daily necessities, Will and his group began their work.
Their first stop was Tomsk State Polytechnic University rather than Tomsk Imperial University. Although Tomsk Imperial University was the local crown jewel, it did not match East Africa's current demand for talent.
Tomsk Imperial University focused primarily on the humanities and had no science or engineering departments, a common failing of many European universities at present.
Traditional universities tended to center on arts, religion, literature, law, and the like. Tomsk Imperial University had been founded in 1803 and would become a century-old institution in three years. Such an ancient school naturally offered subjects much like Europe's old universities.
Tomsk Polytechnic University, by contrast, had been founded in 1896—just four years earlier. Its very name revealed its different positioning from Tomsk Imperial University.
"Welcome, distinguished guests, to Tomsk State Polytechnic University." The president and faculty of Tomsk State Polytechnic University warmly welcomed these guests who had come all the way from East Africa.
There was no other reason. Foreigners were a rare sight in a place like Tomsk. Forget foreigners—even Russians themselves would not come to develop in this godforsaken place unless policy forced their hand.
Will's group naturally drew considerable attention upon arrival, especially since they came from the mysterious nation of East Africa. To the overwhelming majority of countries in the world, East Africa was a land shrouded in mystery. In merely a few decades, it had transformed Africa's barren soil into a great power that could kick Portugal underfoot and wrestle Britain head-on.
For a strength-worshipping country like Russia, East Africa was both worthy of respect and deeply alluring. Of course, more of that was based on hearsay. No country in the world dared call itself an "East Africa expert," because East Africa