March 27 - Representatives of Giessen University arrived at KFU with a purpose of participation in several events organised in the framework of partnership between our universities including selection of students for participation in Student Exchange programs for 2013-2014.
Olga Ilyinskaya, partnership coordinator (KFU), head of Microbiology department, reminded that the criteria of the program remain the same even after 24 years of the cooperation – written test followed by the interview with the best candidates. The objective of the interview is not only to check the student’s level of knowledge but also the awareness of the purpose of the study training. KFU students are taking active interest in the program - there are three candidates for each scholarship offered; the total number of scholarships is eight. According to Prof. Ilyinskaya, KFU is motivated to obtain innovative experimental data in order to improve its rankings by increasing the number of publications in prestigious resources.
Dr. Michael Schmitz, partnership coordinator (Giessen), Professor at the Institute of Agricultural Policy and Market Research, shared his impressions of cooperation between Kazan - Giessen partnership: "We are very pleased with this long-standing and intensive collaboration. At the moment, there are strong links between various departments of our universities. We have been intensively developing joint research projects and many of your faculty members are working in Giessen University". Discussing future plans, Dr. Michael Schmitz noted that the next step in underpinning this partnership would be the development of joint educational programs, including postgraduate ones, as well as the implementation of double degree programmess. One of these programs, according to Dr. Schmitz, will be launched this year - a double master degree in economics. There are also intentions to introduce a joint master's program in natural sciences.
Turning to the selection, the applicants were pleasantly surprised by the warm atmosphere at the interview. As one of the students explained she “could feel the support through the interviewers’ smiles and it made her anxiety not so distracting”.