The new exchange students were greeted by representatives of ITMO’s administration, Department of Russian as a Foreign Language and the Foreign Language Training Center.

The program of an exchange semester at ITMO University consists of three modules: "Cross-Cultural Communication", "IT and Programming" and "Innovations and Business".

The course opened with a lecture on Cross-cultural Communication. Even though all programs will be in English, many of its students studied Russian at home and are going to continue studying it in Russia.

During the exchange semester, the students will also get to know Russian culture and St. Petersburg's many historic sites by going on tours and visiting museums and theatres.

The students will also conduct "national evenings" where they will share their countries' culture, traditions and cuisine.

This semester's exchange students came from Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), Freiberg University of Mining and Technology (Germany), National University of the Littoral (Argentina), Federal University of Espírito Santo (Brazil), Bordeaux Montaigne University (France), ParisTech (France), ISEN Toulon (France), South China University of Technology (China), University of Innsbruck (Austria), Oulu University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and University of Piraeus (Greece).

An exchange semester is a program where students study their specialty at a different university in another country for one semester. Such programs provide full cultural and even language immersion, as well as give an opportunity to learn of the different features of the education and research at other universities. If you are thinking about doing a double degree Master’s program or going abroad for your PhD, a semester-long exchange is also a great way to assess your ability to study away from home. In some universities, completing an exchange semester is mandatory for getting a diploma.

Also, you can read stories by ITMO’s international students who came from European countries to spend a semester or have an internship at our university in 2016. In the interview the young specialists talked about their studies, differences between Russian and European educational systems, difficulties and funny stories as well as their plans for the future.

For further information about exchange semesters at ITMO University, read here.