TOMSK, Aug 28 – RIA Tomsk. Student of Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) Andrey Shabo organized photoshoot with Alma Mater flag in front of the Capitol in Washington. He celebrated victory in the grants program YEAR according to which he will study power industry at the University of Minnesota within new academic year. About the roads that led to America, student told RIA Tomsk.
© предоставлено Андреем Шабо
Andrey Shabo in front of the Capitol
"Attention, polytechnics capture Washington …"
"Two weeks we study the city that we love. Then we fly to study to the State of Minnesota with a cube and a flag of TPU! It is never late to apply and win against an exchange program. Each of us has the right to go to study abroad, the main thing is always to remind to yourself", – Andrey wrote on the page in social networks, commenting photos from the capital of the USA.
Today Andrey is registered as a student of the fourth year of TPU. He arrived to Tomsk specially to enter Polytechnic University, before he studied at school in Yakutia, and even earlier – in Syria where he has lived with parents for 14 years.
"I chose Tomsk because it was recommended by professor who was a friend of my father (the father, by the way, teaches several subjects on power industry and electrical equipment). I was convinced that professor is right: there are a lot of opportunities for students in TPU, the main thing is to find them in time. In choice of profession I followed in the footsteps of my father and now I study at Department of Electric Drives and Equipment", – Shabo tells.
Andrey emphasizes that he always liked to learn English: I participated and won the language academic competitions in school, gets the second higher education on the "Interpreter in the Sphere of Professional Communication" profile in TPU from the second year.
"Then I also began to file documents on programs for exchange with partner universities of TPU which offered grants. In general, it is quit easy to go to study abroad. But my task was to get a grant on training", – the student remembers.
YEAR – YES!
In April 2017 Andrey found out about the YEAR program and submitted the application for participation. It had to be considered only by October therefore the young man forgot about this program for several months.
"One fine evening of October I watched an American movie in an original postscoring and remembered about the USA and YEAR. I visited the website and understood that received the grant! But I had less than 15 hours to collect the documents signed by Polytechnic University, to ask teachers to write two letters of recommendation, to translate all this into English and to send", – Shabo says.
Andrey remembers that fatigue pulled hard at some moment, there was a wish to close the laptop and to go to bed.
"I wrote the essay at night, the whole next day collected documents. The fact that I already participated in competitions on grants before helped because I already had a part of documents. Generally, I managed to do everything, though I had to be nervous", – the resident of Tomsk tells.
YEAR (Year of Exchange in America for Russians) is a program according to which talented students of the Russian universities can study at the university or college of the USA within one academic year. For the first time competitive selection was made in 2015. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow finances YEAR.
The program of training is selected individually for each of participants taking into account his education and scientific interests. The course joins studying of the American culture, meetings with representatives of professional communities, participation in volunteer activity. Finalists of the program live in host families or dormitories.
Selection of participants of YEAR takes place in several stages. The first – application, filling the online questionnaire, writing of the essay in which the student explains the purpose, providing the scanned copies of private papers, two motivational letters – in English or with the notarized translation.
Approximately in a month the second stage for the selected students begins. They need to pass the test for knowledge of English, which is paid by organizers. If you receive the necessary assessment than you pass in the third stage. It provides an interview with representatives of the program from Washington.
"It is very important to understand that the main objective of this program is cultural exchange between the USA and Russia that is you are that cultural ambassador. Therefore it is necessary to behave adequately – both during the interview, and in life, and in study", – Andrey considers.
Final results become known as a rule in March. Then the visa is issued, and in July a big trip to America begins.
American everyday life
"I arrived to Washington on July 23, and had courses of adaptation to the American culture and life within a week. These are, probably, the most loaded days of my summer. I studied together with other finalists, and there are 69 of us! It is surprising how it is possible to approach some people for several days, to become good friends. We are similar because we have an identical dream, at the same time each of us is unique", – the polytechnic remembers.
Speaking about colleagues in the program, Andrey adds that finalists keep in contact: "Now, being in Minneapolis, the State of Minnesota, I already plan our joint travel across America on winter vacation. Florida, New York, states California, Wyoming and Arizona are in plans".
The resident of Tomsk tells that he dreamed to go to America from 16 years therefore he tries to use the chance, which dropped out to him at full scale.
"Now, for example, I answer your questions on the Internet, and I have the bus in Chicago in five hours, and I have even not packed a suitcase. Matter isn't that I unorganized, it is absolutely not true. Just there are many various actions for the international students here every day. I am in America for nearly two months, and it was never necessary for me to stay at home", – Andrey says.
Only the student of TPU was among finalists from Tomsk. "But everyone can participate, – he tells. – Separate thanks to the Center of International Educational Programs (CIEP) of Tomsk Polytechnic University, which helped with paperwork on the academic exchange. The help of the university is an important point".
© предоставлено Андреем Шабо
The student of TPU won a grant for a year of study in the USA
The polytechnic will be in America for nearly a year, and a way home will be approximately in the middle of May 2019 where the thesis defense and closing of the academic difference are necessary.
"For this year I want to invest as much as possible in study in America, to look what accents put in my specialty. Besides, I want to participate in work of student's clubs, in real projects in the sphere of power, to solve important and relevant problems for improvement of quality of life", – Shabo plans.
Telling about the organization of the training, Andrey notes that at the University of Minnesota students can choose objects for each semester.
"It turns out that everyone has an individual program, and everyone is a unique expert at the exit from university – who understands the business well", – the resident of Tomsk comments.
For reference: according to the department of work with foreign students of Tomsk Polytechnic University, students, graduate students, and young scientists of the university got grants for training abroad for the total amount of 19 million rubles in 2017. These are trips to the leading world scientific and educational organizations of 11 countries of the world.
© РИА Томск. Таисия Воронцова
15 grants of the President of the Russian Federation for training abroad (the first place among universities of Russia), nine grants of the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation for the Academic Mobility program and five grants of DAAD according to the Mikhail Lomonosov program are among them.
Annually from 300 to 400 students of TPU use an opportunity to be trained abroad. 358 students of the university took part in programs of the academic mobility (in 2016 – 334) in 2017. Today more than 90 contracts on implementation of various programs of the academic mobility with foreign universities of 30 countries work in TPU.
TPU is the largest technical college beyond the Urals. It rose in the ranking of QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) from group 600+ to the 373rd line in 2018 in five years. This year the university got the 21st place in the ranking of Times Higher Education (THE) for developing countries, having improved the positions more than twice in comparison with result of 2017.
Since 2013 it participates in the 5-100 program for increase in competitiveness in the world. In 2018 TPU was among prestigious engineering universities of the world in the ShanghaiRanking. In the Engineering area in the subject Instruments Science & Technology the university got into one group (201-300) with the known universities of France, Finland and Israel.
Also TPU enters the Academic Ranking of World Universities, ARWU where it takes the place in group 901-1000.