Academic Culture at ITMO University
Disclaimer: I am a MSc student at the faculty of Applied Optics and will only be speaking from my own experience. The culture may vary from faculty to faculty as well as the academic opportunities. However, feel free to extrapolate my experience to get a general feeling.
I enrolled at ITMO University for my MSc studies. I took my BSc in another university (Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University). As I had studied in another university, I couldn’t help but compare the two experiences. There are several aspects I’d like to outline from this comparison.
Attitude towards academic activities
It was striking for me how simple science is treated in ITMO. It is a big deal and not a big deal at the same time — in other words, everyone can do it, you’re not an exception. I had no publications or any scientific projects accomplished when I enrolled (BSc thesis doesn’t count, really) and ITMO welcomed me like doing research was something natural. Even if you have no experience. Everyone was talking about grants, conferences, scientific papers — it was part of their routine and for me all that was absolutely new. No riddle for you to solve, the attitude towards science I encountered (and adopted) in my BSc studies was that science is for some serious people, students just study and never touch it. The key message was — science is no mystery but rather a lifestyle; and I had to adapt.
Academic environment
As science is perceived as something natural, another key point was — everyone has something to offer and can contribute. From the very first days of working on my MSc thesis topic my supervisor advised me on conferences and grants I should apply for. Frankly speaking, I had no idea how those things are done :D So, she sat with me and helped me with my first conference application. For the first grant, another student helped me as she applied last year and knew the procedure. For the first paper, we wrote it together with other students from the project, part by part and then double-checked the language and the formatting.
As for the curriculum, professors and tutors are there for you when you need them. If you ask for references, contacts, explanations, help with software or writing something — they are willing to help. I experienced an environment so nurturing that you grow as an engineer ten times faster than you would do in other circumstances.
Opportunities inside ITMO
ITMO has various way for you to pursue scientific activities inside the university. First of all — conferences. There is the annual Internal Conference that happens every January and also the All-Russian Congress of Young Scientists (open for school and university students all over Russia) that happens every April. Generally speaking, students tend to present their thesis projects there but if you’re looking for projects beyond that — it’s also possible. Of course, you can join projects at your faculty if there are any open ones that are looking for students (yes, they exist). One more option is to start your own! OLIMP lab is the place that welcomes everyone willing to do something hands-on, learn new skills and participate in scientific or engineering projects. Another option is to take part in an R&D project or practice-oriented R&D project that is funded by the university.
At our faculty we have a student union specialised in applied optics where we have volunteer projects, projects in collaboration with OLIMP and practice-oriented R&D projects funded by the university. One of them was the optical labyrinth — an educational setup to demonstrate how prisms work.
Plenty of opportunities from outside of university shared
The common practice in ITMO is to share the results with the outside world at conferences and in papers. Not only inside Russia but also in international conferences and journals. We, as the students from the Faculty of Applied Optics are applying to SPIE conferences with further publications. I have one myself!
Some of the most common grants and conferences announcements are published in the internal IT system of the university so that more students see it and participate.
Timeframes
Of course, such a high level of academic activity comes at a cost — normally, the working pace is intense and deadlines end up being packed or short or both. The only way to keep up with it is to prioritise your tasks and follow Bear Grylls' motto:
Applicability of topics
Another cool detail about academic culture in ITMO is the focus on the applicability of the outcomes. I am an engineering student, so the evidence of applicability is clear — I have the skills and understanding of how what I study has its application in the modern world. This focus is harder to maintain when performing fundamental research or alike. A friend of mine is a PhD student at the Faculty of Physics and Engineering and takes part in what I, being an engineer, would call a purely fundamental research, yet, he can clearly explain to me why her research matters and how it can be applied further.
I hope that this brief overview derived from my own experience at ITMO University gives you a glimpse of what the academic culture is like in the university :)
