Last Friday, one of ITMO University’s campuses hosted the Study Abroad Fair. The event brought together dozens of students from different ITMO faculties: both Bachelor’s and Master’s students came to the Fair to talk in person with the representatives of foreign universities and discuss all kinds of topics, from the contents of educational programs to accommodation costs. However, the most frequently asked question was how to apply and make it through the competition.
“About 10% of all ITMO University students participate in exchange programs. We’re always happy to help when students say that they want to study abroad or plan to take part in a short-term program, and we do our best to support them in this. For us, the Study Abroad Fair is a very important event, as it allows students to talk in person with the representatives of our partner universities. And they definitely have the most relevant and reliable information about the specifics of their universities and countries and, thus, can answer all the questions that students might have. We also use this event to show our students that our collaboration with our partner universities is a reality. I think that communication with our international colleagues gives students a sense of security, as they can see that there are people in other countries who are also ready to help them,” says Olga Vashchenko, a staff at ITMO University’s International Educational Programs Office.
Universities from all over the world
Europe, North and South America, Asia and even Australia – universities from all over the globe were presented at ITMO’s Study Fair. The majority of them offer students to participate in semester exchange programs, however, there were options as well, such as summer schools, conferences, and scientific events.
“It’s a wonderful event. For us, representatives of universities, this is a great opportunity to get to know students and tell them about our programs and the opportunities we can offer. I am pleasantly surprised by how many students are interested in international exchange and how good their English is. I’m representing the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. We offer educational programs for Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD students lasting for one or two semesters. Apart from that, we offer a range of short-term courses for international students. All courses are taught in English, but if you know Czech, you can attend classes in this language, too,” shares Iva Zilikova, the representative of the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague.
According to specialists of ITMO University’s International Educational Programs Office, to participate in an academic exchange program, a student needs to receive a certificate confirming their level of English, discuss the program with the head of their educational program, apply for a competition that takes place twice a year, go through an interview, be chosen for participation in an exchange program, and then submit an application themselves and wait for an invitation.
In order to be eligible for participation, one has to provide a certificate confirming their knowledge of the English language. Apart from international exams like IELTS or TOEFL, ITMO University students can get a certificate at ITMO’s Foreign Language Training Center. Such a certificate will be accepted in 95% of cases. However, there are some universities that only require IELTS, for example, universities in England and Denmark (Aalborg University). You can find more information about the required level of English on your host university’s website.
Choice without borders
Despite the fact that ITMO University’s Study Fair was attended by the representatives of 12 countries, there were more universities participating. For example, France was represented by several universities and engineering schools.
“I’m representing SUP’Biotech Paris; this is a private engineering school which specializes in different fields of the biotechnologies sector. We will be glad to welcome Master’s students with good command of chemistry, biology and physics. Our school is part of the IONIS Technology cluster, which gives me the reason to confidently state that we offer state-of-the-art laboratories where ITMO University students, among others, can work if they chose our education institution,” says Nathen, an ITMO University exchange student coming from SUP’Biotech Paris.
But students can find even more partner universities, and with that, semester and short-term exchange programs, by referring to ITMO University’s International Educational Programs Office.
“Unfortunately, not all of our partners were able to attend our Partner Day and Study Abroad Fair. But even if a partner university a student is dreaming of doing an exchange at isn’t represented at one of these events, we still recommend our students to come and talk with the representatives of other universities from this country. For instance, this time we’ve had only one Spanish university attending, but our colleague José-Manuel Diéguez from Barcelona School of Informatics of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya explained the students present all about accommodation prices, Spain’s education system and Spanish culture in general. This is a very valuable, first-hand information,” notes Olga Vashchenko.
The next fair is planned to take place in April next year, while in the near future there will be a meeting with students that came to do an exchange at ITMO. Participants will have the opportunity to meet the students and ask them questions about their home university, their first impressions of St. Petersburg and the differences in the education systems of Russia and their own country.
