How to study all over the world: experience of TPU students

TOMSK, Aug 29 – RIA Tomsk. Students of Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) can study for free under the programs of universities of Italy, Finland, Germany and other countries, while receiving a scholarship of 800 euros. About this and other opportunities – in the review of RIA Tomsk.

Independent travelers

Tomsk Polytechnic University is the leading technical university beyond the Urals and cooperates with many world educational centers, including under the programs of students training. As the main expert of the TPU profile department Marina Tayurskaya told RIA Tomsk, students can get to foreign university in two ways – by participating in programs of specialized funds or in its own programs of the Polytechnic University.

"In the first case, students apply for participation independently", – says Tayurskaya. According to her information, last year students, graduate students and young scientists from TPU won grants and scholarships for a total of 19 million rubles. With this money they passed internships in universities and scientific organizations of 11 countries of the world.

Among the won programs –  there are 15 scholarships of the President of the Russian Federation for studying abroad (according to this indicator, TPU won first place among Russian universities), nine grants of the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation under the Academic Mobility program and five DAAD grants under the Mikhail Lomonosov program.

Employees of TPU advise students on the procedure for filing applications, prepare the necessary documents from the university. However, the student himself will coordinate his training program with a foreign university, specify all the conditions for its admission.

Two diplomas in one hand

Own programs of Polytechnic University for training students abroad are realized under the contract with foreign universities. In this case, the partner institutions coordinate the study and accommodation of the participants. Students who go to study under such programs, do not pay for studying at foreign university. The process of participation in the programs is detailed on the TPU website.

"The range of offers is quite wide: it is short-term (mostly about a month) internship and practicians abroad, semester academic exchange programs for students and double degree diploma programs", – explains Tayurskaya.

"These programs have a significant advantage: a departing student does not need sabbatical year, as he studies a part of his educational courses in a foreign university", – comments the TPU expert.

The results of the student's training upon his return are translated into the Russian system of grades, credited in TPU and subsequently included in the annex to the state-recognized diploma of the government-approved format. In the application, it also states: "Part of the educational program in such volume is mastered in such foreign university".

If the student successfully completes the double degree diploma program, then, accordingly, two diplomas of higher education are issued – from Tomsk Polytechnic University and form foreign universities.

Thirty countries at choice

Every year 300-400 TPU students use an opportunity to study abroad. In 2017, 358 university students took part in academic mobility programs (in 2016 – 334).

"Where students can go? The choice is wide enough: today in PTU there are more than 90 contracts on the implementation of various academic mobility programs with foreign universities", – says the TPU expert.

In the list of countries, both the western and the eastern directions: Austria, Germany, France, Finland, Czech Republic, China, Japan, India and others.

Go to universities of Europe

In September, TPU will start accepting of  applications from students wishing to study at partner universities in the spring semester of 2018/2019 academic year. Polytechnic University provides material support to its students: on a competitive basis they can receive a "PLUS scholarship". This is a system of financial support for students sent to study in foreign and Russian universities.

It is assigned to TPU students who plan to study at the world's leading universities. Mandatory requirements for candidates: the program of study abroad should be a part of the educational program, competence in necessary foreign language at the level not lower than В1, academic success and so on.

The most popular among polytechnicians are the academic mobility programs ERASMUS+: participants receive a scholarship of the European Commission at a rate of about 800 euros per month, they are also paid transportation to the place of training.

In 2017, TPU participated in projects ERASMUS+ with eight European universities. These are the universities of Trent (Italy) and Aalto (Finland), Óbuda University (Hungary) and NOVA University of Lisbon (Portugal), University of Maribor (Slovenia) and Saarland University (Germany), as well as technical universities of Dresden (Germany) and Vienna (Austria).

As previously reported by the press service of Polytechnic University, according to this program a group of students from Institute of Cybernetics of TPU underwent training – eight (!) people immediately went to one of the top universities of Portugal, NOVA University of Lisbon.

The way abroad for students of Polytechnic University begins with the department for work with foreign students (it is located in the main building, office No. 333). Its employees advise on all issues of participation in the programs, help with drawing up the necessary documents and supervise the student until returning from abroad.

Open the world with TPU

"Studying abroad gives the student undeniable bonuses: he becomes more independent and responsible, learns to live and solve his problems in another country and in another culture, improves the level of a foreign language, not to mention getting unique knowledge in his specialty", – Tayurskaya is sure.

She notes that the opportunity to combine study in Tomsk with an education in another country attracts many students. This chance was taken, for example, by students of Engineering School of Information Technologies and Robotics of Tomsk Polytechnic University Artem Solomin and Roman Zateev.

As it is reported on the website of TPU, they participated in the Tsinghua University's program "Experiencing China Tsinghua Summer School 2018". According to the international rating of QS University Rankings, the university takes the 25th among the world's leading scientific and educational centers and the first among Chinese higher educational institutions.

In Beijing polytechnicians Solomin and Zateev study the features and prospects for the development of advanced technology and education in China.

Alexander Krutei, the graduate of the magistracy of the School of Earth Sciences & Engineering of TPU, once took part in the academic mobility program with the University of Maribor (Slovenia). "TPU helped me to see life from the other side and to absorb a lot of knowledge, values of other cultures and peoples", – the words of the polytechnician are quoted on the website of the university.

A fourth-year student of TPU School of Nuclear Science & Engineering, Iskander Zhienaliev, spent one of his semesters in the Czech Republic – at Technical University of Ostrava. In Tomsk the young man is listed on the profile "Beam and plasma technologies" and in the Czech Republic he studied subjects corresponding to his curriculum at his home university.

"I learned about the academic exchange programs on the second year. And I wanted to use the opportunities that the university gives to its students", – the student's memories were published on the official website of TPU.

At Technical University of Ostrava, foreign students can receive a scholarship. Iskander passed the corresponding competition and became a scholar. He admits that the scholarship was enough even for organizing a trip to the south of France. The polytechnician visited Marseille, Cannes and Nice.

Language is not a problem

As many participants of the academic exchange note, while studying the possibilities of academic mobility, they were worried about their language training. To participate in most programs requires a certificate of knowledge of foreign language at the level B2 on the European scale.

As it is reported on the website of the department for work with foreign students of TPU, for those who do not have an international certificate confirming this level, there is a language testing in Polytechnic University.

If the student is not sufficiently confident in his knowledge on the threshold of testing, he is being recommended an intensive language course "Language for Mobility". It has special trust and great demand among potential participants in academic mobility programs.