Spring. Travel report Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University, Russia

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Lucinda Dawson
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1 Spring 17 Travel report Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University, Russia

2 Sisällysluettelo 1. Preparing for the exchange... 3 Visa documents... 3 Travelling Exchange Studies... 4 University & studying... 4 Courses... 4 Doing Business In Russia... 5 Intensive Russian... 5 E-Commerce... 6 Управление брендами (Brand Management)... 6 International Political Economy... 6 Corporate Social Responsibility Free time and other information... 8 Accommodation... 8 Cost of living... 8 Free time and activities... 8 General information... 9 Good to know Final comments

3 1. Preparing for the exchange The international office of St. Petersburg University GSOM is very well organised and advices incoming students well regarding the procedures before the exchange. They need some informal letter from your language teacher regarding your skills of the language you intend to study in (English/Russian) and B2 level is required. As I had planned to study in Russian, I just got a letter from my high school, as I haven t studied much Russian in Aalto University. Other than that, the only document needed is the visa. Visa documents For the student visa, the following documents were needed: Passport Visa application form Invitation letter (sent by the St. Petersburg University) 2 passport pictures Insurance certificate HIV-test certificate Obtaining the visa is relatively easy and takes about a week after you have all the documents. It is important to pay attention to the instructions regarding the documents, as it would be very typical Russian to deny the visa because of some minor things. Also, thought they say the visa takes a week, I wouldn t leave it to the last minute. It would also be very typical Russian to have random delays for no reason. You can get the visa through a travel agency, but it is also very easy to do it yourself either at the visa office of Russia, or at the embassy if you speak Russian even a little bit. Note that the Russian embassy and the visa office follow Russian holiday calendar, including 1,5 weeks holiday for new year s, which might cause trouble if you are going for the spring semester. Travelling The easiest way to travel to St. Petersburg is by the Allegro train. It takes 3 h 30 min and costs about 30 on weekdays (weekends usually double, and summer time prices are higher in general). It is very convenient and you can buy your ticket a week before the departure to get it at the low price. In St. Pete there is always your local buddy waiting for you when you arrive. They are local students who help exchangers with all practical stuff and organise the orientation week. 3

4 2. Exchange Studies University & studying The exchange semester began in the beginning of February and lasted until the end of June. The first week was an orientation week organised by the buddy team, and there was also a free Russian crash course. Other than the crash course, there was no other introduction to the university or studying, the orientation week focused more in getting to know each other, visiting the most important attractions and museums of St. Petersburg and partying. The cost of the orientation week was a bit over 100 euros and I feel it was totally worth it as all the free time activities were a part of the orientation and all the GSOM exchange students were there. As for studying, expect to have long days, Saturday classes and exams, and last minute changes to schedule. You are expected to be able to organise your schedule accordingly. Then again, the people working in the International Office are very nice and usually able to organise something to avoid inconvenience, as are some of the teachers. Exams in the spring term (and apparently also in the autumn term) are organised in two exam weeks. If you are lucky, you already have some of your exams in mid-semester (beginning of April). For those the re-sits are already in May. Most of the exams are organised in the end of the semester (first half of June for master students and second half of June for bachelors) and for them the re-sits are much later, meaning that you need to pass on the first attempt. You can t generally reschedule any exams, unless on a very rare occasion the teacher agrees to it. The only exception is if you have an academic or work related reason, for which you need to provide the international office with something written. Note that the bachelor students study in Peterhof, on the brand new Michailovskaja Dacha campus. The campus facilities are great, but it is far from the city centre (1-1,5 hours by public transport). The master students study in the city centre, on Vasilievsky Island. Courses The course selection for bachelor students is relatively good and you are usually able to enrol on all the courses you want. In total there was 27 courses offered, and most of them are rather similar in topics compared to those offered in Aalto BIZ. There are also courses in Russian, and I would definitely recommend trying a course in Russian if you are about B2 level. I was, in theory, on that level and did just fine! On top of studying an interesting course, my Russian language skills also improved a lot! If you are interested, ask the international office for the list of Russian taught courses, as they don t openly promote the option. All the masters courses are taught in English and there were 27 of them in total offered this semester. You are free to choose your courses as you wish; GSOM doesn t have any limitations as long as it is okay with the exchanger s home university. 4

5 While the course selection is okay, overall the GSOM of St. Petersburg State University isn t a university you should pick if you wish to study high-quality courses. The strength of the school is the location St. Petersburg is a very beautiful city with lots to offer. Not to forget the active and cheap student life, as well as learning about the culture! Doing Business In Russia Graduate course (open for bachelors and applicable to bachelor s degree in Aalto University 6 ECTS 3 week intensive course with classes almost every day 80% group project (business plan), 20% exam, 5% class activity Teacher: Olga Vsevolodovna Makarova The idea and the structure of the course are good, and it s definitely an interesting start to your exchange. You learn how the Russian business and university environments work, both in theory and in practice. Don t expect a great academic study experience, but still I would say the course is definitely worth taking, even for the bachelor students who need to travel to the master building for it. The teacher isn t strict about attending the lectures, so there is no problem with some minor overlaps even if the international office doesn t like it. Intensive Russian Undergraduate course 8 ECTS 4x90 min lessons per week from February to May Grading depends on the group and the teacher Teacher: Larisa Alekseevna Volskaja This course depends greatly on the level and the group. In my group (B2-C1) there were 3 students and we spent most of our time reading newspapers and classical and modern literature. The teacher would explain any unfamiliar words and we d stop to discuss some difficult grammar topics whenever we found them in the texts. Some other groups had up to 10 students and a much more strict structure on the course. In general exchange students liked the course a lot. 5

6 E-Commerce Undergraduate course 5 ECTS 3x90 min per week, 2 months 50% assignments and midterm tests, 50% final exam Teacher: Sergey Aleksandrovich Yablonsky Most of the stuff taught on the course was very basic for anyone studying marketing or business technology courses in Aalto. The lectures weren t very interesting, but the course project was okay and the course in general was very easy. Don t expect to gain 5 ECTS worth of new information about e-commerce though! Управление брендами (Brand Management) Undergraduate course 5 ECTS 4x90 min per week, 2 months 40% group assignments, 60% final exam Teacher: Sergey Aleksandovich Starov One of the best courses I studied in my whole degree! A very interesting course, a good teacher and easy enough even as a non-native Russian speaker. The teacher was very supportive, always willing to explain and help, allowed me to use a dictionary in the exam and answer in English if needed. 40% of the course grade came from various group assignments, and at least my group was very helpful and understanding as I couldn t contribute as much as the native students. If you are planning to take courses in Russian, I d recommend choosing courses which have group assignments. It would have been much more difficult to complete individual tasks on a course where everyone else is a native Russian. The international office is able to provide information about the courses in Russian, you just need to ask for it as they don t openly promote the possibility. They have 5-10 page descriptions of each course, so better spend some time finding the right courses. International Political Economy Undergraduate course 5 ECTS 3-6 x 90 min per week, 6 weeks 40% assignments and midterm tests, 60% final exam Teacher: Olga Leonidovna Garanina 6

7 One of the few courses that reaches university level academically. The teacher actually knows what she is talking about, requires the students to use academic sources and analyse the information provided on the course. Something that can t be said about any of the other courses except for this one and Управление брендами (Brand Management). The workload is quite high but the course is interesting even if international political economy in general didn t interest me. Corporate Social Responsibility Undergraduate course 2 ECTS 1-2 x 90 min per week, 2 months 50% assignments and midterm tests, 50% final exam Teacher: Anastasia Andreevna Petrova-Savchenko I definitely recommend everyone to take this 2 ECTS course! It gives you a great insight into how Russians see corporate social responsibility and ethics in business. In a very stereotypical way it s almost comical. This is a course which will help you understand Russians if you plan to do any business with Russians in the future. The course has nothing to do with real life corporate social responsibility though at least from the western point of view. The teacher is super flexible with the exam date and offered a chance to re-schedule for exchange students, even without an academic reason! 7

8 3. Free time and other information Accommodation The school offers a place in the dorm for every student. It is a very basic accommodation with shared rooms, but also very cheap (about 75 per month!) and most of the exchangers live there. Bachelor students stay in Peterhof, quite close to the bachelor campus. They have shared rooms for 2-3 people, usually other exchangers, and shared bathrooms and kitchens for the whole floor. Master students live in the city centre, close to the master campus. They have shared rooms for 2 people and shared kitchen and bathrooms for 2 or 3 rooms. You shouldn t expect anything fancy when living there, but it s definitely worth considering as that s where a lot of socialising will be. Not to speak about truly living and understanding the Russian culture and student life! And you can always live there in the beginning and move out if it s not for you. It is also possible to find private accommodation. It is around the same price as in Helsinki or a bit cheaper, if you find a shared flat with other exchangers. Use the GSOM exchangers Facebook group to find flatmates and flats where other exchangers have lived during the previous semester. Cost of living Generally cost of living is cheaper than in Finland. Food is cheap, at least if it s domestic. Imported products can be expensive. Alcohol is also very cheap, even many imported brands. Public transport card is around 1000 rub per month and taxis are rub in the city centre and about 950 rub from city centre to Peterhof dorms. Very convenient as the buses don t run after midnight! No money was needed for any school fees, books or anything else. Only the multi-entry visa (1600 rub if I remember right) and the orientation week (about 1000 rub). Free time and activities It is very easy to get to know the other exchange students during the orientation week. It is a full week of activities to familiarise yourself with the Russian culture, your new home city and with your new friends. Especially if you live in the dorms you will get to know all the other exchange students very quickly. There were about 60 exchangers in GSOM during my semester. 8

9 There are some activities organised by the school, like a soccer team and some other sports teams, though not many attended them. The school/dorm gym isn t very good, but the buddy team negotiated a deal with another gym for exchangers. The prices for gyms are very close to those in Finland. Most activities were self-organised with other exchangers. St. Petersburg is very well located and many exchangers visited cities, towns and villages nearby, or took a train or a flight to Moscow, Lake Baikal and other further destinations. General information As St. Petersburg is only 300 km from Helsinki, it is quite similar weather-wise. From the cultural aspect however, it is very different. It would be useful to know a bit of Russian before your arrival, or at least to be able to read the letters. Another thing to pack in your suitcase is a great amount of patience. In Russia things have their own way of working and sometimes it doesn t even make any sense. Something that in Finland would require a lot of bureaucracy and waiting might be dealt with in Russia in 5 minutes, but then again something supposedly very easy can take hours and talking to several people to solve. You never know. And don t expect anyone to speak English. With that said, most of the arriving exchange students don t speak any Russian and they managed through their semester just fine. And everyone I talked to enjoyed the experience! You always have your buddy to help you, as well as other exchangers who speak Russian language. Good to know Remember that the multi-entry visa takes 2 months at least! Don t plan any trips, or staying in a hotel in St. Petersburg with your family if they are visiting, during that time. The school says it takes 5 weeks, but actually it takes first about 3-4 weeks for all the documents to be ready for the visa application. The 5 weeks countdown starts after that, as you hand in your multientry visa application. 9

10 4. Final comments In conclusion, I had a very interesting and memorable semester at St. Petersburg State University GSOM. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who s interested to learn about a completely different culture of one of Finland s biggest trading partners. Sure, you can also choose Bali and go surfing, or go to Australia and enjoy the heat, but if you up for an adventure consider St. Petersburg or other Eastern European destinations as well. The culture and way of thinking is quite different and they also reflect to their business life. At least I feel like I have now a completely different level of understanding how Russian market and companies operate. I am glad to reflect back with a feeling that if I were to begin my exchange now, I would do similar decisions. I would try to study more Russian before the exchange making it easier to speak Russian from the beginning. Even for a beginner I would recommend learning the alphabet and greetings etc. before the exchange it will make your life much easier! Having travelled a lot this wasn t my first time building a new life overseas. I did learn a lot about my appreciation towards Finland and home though, and while I had a good time in St. Petersburg, it was also great to return to Helsinki after the exchange. Academically, I learnt a great deal about Russian culture and enhanced my Russian language skills. There were some very interesting courses that I took and I learnt a lot there too, though St. Petersburg University GSOM is not an ideal university to choose if you are looking for the best value education. However, the university is great in teaching how Russians think of the world and how their mindset works. While it sometimes leaves overseas exchangers confused or amused, the courses offer a great insight into how people in our neighbouring country think! If you are considering St. Petersburg for you exchange and have questions about the city, school courses or anything else, feel free to ask Aalto BIZ s International Student Services for my name/ address! 10

Exchange report & National Chengchi University Taipei, Taiwan Spring 2017

Exchange report & National Chengchi University Taipei, Taiwan Spring 2017 Exchange report 483698 & 423742 National Chengchi University Taipei, Taiwan Spring 2017 1. Preparing for the exchange After we received the confirmation from Aalto University that we ll spend the next