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Double chance

Были времена, когда учащегося подними хоть среди ночи — и он прочтёт тебе «Отче наш». Сегодня требования другие: как «Отче наш» студенты должны знать английский язык. Стало быть язык нам будет встречаться всё чаще: на лекциях не только приглашённых, но и своих преподавателей, в статьях не только международных журналов, но и Журнала СФУ, в публикациях Интернета и в газетных материалах.

Проект «Развитие двуязычной образовательной и социальной среды» — одно из мероприятий Проекта 5-100. Цель — создание для иностранных студентов комфортных условий, способствующих более успешной адаптации к университетской жизни, а также поддержание и развитие языкового интереса со стороны русскоговорящих студентов и преподавателей.

Создавать языковую среду участники проекта будут в том числе через газету. В новой рубрике «Двойная возможность», которую мы начинаем с этого номера, будут публиковаться небольшие тексты на английском. Русский читатель сможет потренироваться в знании английского, иностранный гость — узнает что-то полезное о нашем университете.

How to study in several universities

In an attempt to increase the international competitive standing of SFU, the project “Developing the Bilingual, Educational, and Social Environment” is being launched. The main objective of the project is to create a comfortable environment for international students to successfully adapt to university life. Also, it will provide support and development for those Russian speaking students and professors with language interests.

Here is a piece of the conversation between Kirill Zorin, head of the Department of Journalism, and senior academic administrator, Olga Osipenko, who is in charge of developing the Master’s degree program
at SFU.

— This section of the sfu-kras.ru website is dedicated to the Master’s degree mentions, not only engineering education, but a very mysterious term called a network partnership. What advantages does it give to our university and to students? Could you tell us please?

— I like the network as a form of cooperation. Although, so far, not many people “play the game” or participate. In this situation, you can apply the following stereotype: “We are the smartest and nobody can do it better than us”. But why are we trying to do everything in a single university with limited resources? Either we have ideal conditions, which is impossible, or it costs us a lot of effort. After all, we are able to have network collaborations with other universities and can agree to use each other’s resources.

For instance, one university can provide a perfect education in biotechnology but medicine might not be taught very well, another university might have a similar situation, but the other way around. If these universities are united in through the program of network collaboration, the quality and value of their educational programs will rise. And students will have access to the resources of both universities. However, I repeat, not all educational establishments are ready for this step since it pushes you out of your comfort zone.

— Do I understand correctly that network interaction is an opportunity for the university to attract prospective students?

— Certainly, yes. The reason being that the network offers students the possibility to enroll at one university and later on to another. It all depends on the number of network partners. I will, again, illustrate this point with the example of an elite engineering education within the scope of our network interaction with Phystech and Rosnano. Not all of these students would have entered Phystech. However, making use of the network contract, they are now in a position to learn from Moscow university professors, take exams there, and get acquainted with renowned academics.

I regret to say that, so far, university network interaction has been exercised on a trial basis since there are still a lot of unsettled legislative issues. To cite a couple of examples, the fund transfer mechanism is still obscure and academic mobility does not get financed. However, nowadays, network interaction is being put to good use as part of training in material engineering and biotechnology, history and business economics at SibFU. It appeals to students and I am confident that such programs are the thing of the future. When the existing problems are solved, prominent universities will certainly develop network programs.

Published in full in the October issue of «Siberian Forum. Intellectual Dialogue» (sibforum.sfu.-kras.ru)

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