The academic mobility program is one of the most attractive forms of education for students. Its participants can gain unique experience and learn the basics of their future profession in a different language and cultural space.
One of these programs is being fulfilled jointly with L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University in Astana (Kazakhstan). Students of the journalism field will study at the foreign university for a semester, after which credits for the subjects they passed will be transferred to SUSU.
“The Eurasian National University holds the 336th place in the QS World University Ranking and is one of the best classical universities in the world. We work actively with ENU – we send students from our department to them annually. ENU students are especially attracted by the multimedia capabilities of our university. They can improve their professional skills and try being television and radio journalists in the world-class SUSU 360 Degree Multimedia Newsroom media laboratory. In our faculty, journalism and political science students from ENU also actively use new technologies, complete master classes with famous and significant journalists from countries near and far,” notes Associate Professor of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications, Candidate of Sciences (Philology), Anvar Ismailov.
Future journalists at SUSU have the chance to get to know a new system of education. At ENU, they use the Bologna system of education which has a few unique features: students choose the subjects that are most interesting to them and their knowledge is evaluated in a point-based system.
When studying in a foreign university, students find themselves in a different cultural environment, gain new practical experience, and expand their world view, which is very important for journalists. Student of the SUSU Department of Journalism and Mass Communications Rustam Minyazov sees the ability to get to know a new country without halting ones education as one of the advantages of the exchange program:
“I had very surprising impressions of the country and city! Astana is a city of “big scale”. Everything in its architecture speaks of rich cultural heritage of the country. Large parks and exceptional infrastructure – this is what the residents of the capital are proud of. And the people themselves are deeply patriotic, they really love their country and the place they grew up in. It’s also interesting that each person knows their national writers, poets, musicians, and their culture as a whole. In Kazakhstan, they read and reread national literature. Speaking of love of literature: I’m very glad that I was able to freely attend lectures from the Faculty of Philology. The people’s deep and persistent desire for the written word, language, and culture, is impressive!”
Mandatory conditions for potential participants of the program include the absence of academic debts, and good academic performance. Education and accommodation at the partner university is free of charge.
Photo: Student of the SUSU Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, Alyona Maksimova (Astana, Kazakhstan)
“It may sound strange, but the experience I remembered most of all from this trip is living in an international dormitory,” says student of the SUSU Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities Alyona Maksimova. “Students from France, Germany, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Belarus, Tajikistan, Turkey, Spain, and Japan lived alongside us. We celebrated special holidays and improved our English, so we weren’t able to get bored. I think that it is absolutely worth it to travel abroad to study in exchange programs. This is a colossal experience in communication! The culture, despite being close to ours, shows its differences. It was interesting to figure out the unique national features of the local population and study the city, since there are many monuments in Astana.”
At present, new programs of double degrees are being opened actively. In the future, Master’s students of the journalism field will have the chance to earn two degrees – one from L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University and from South Ural State University.