KNRTU lecturers completed the project “Design of a Cross-Cultural Educational Ecosystem for Master's Degree Programs in the Context of Migration Processes”, which became the winner of the contest “Professional Development” of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation.

During the project implementation 56 thematic lectures, expert interviews on the issues of adaptation of international students, recorded discussions on the plots of feature and documentary films on migration and live meetings with students of the Ufa State Petroleum Technological University (USPTU) were held. The work of the KNRTU expert group was devoted to a comprehensive review of the issues of international Master’s Degree students’ adaption in Russian regional universities. The experts paid special attention to the Master's Degree programs attended by international students.

Prof. Andrey Tuzikov, Chair of the Department of Public Administration, History and Sociology Department of KNRTU, revealed the theoretical approach of the project team to the adaptation of international Master’s Degree students as a “triune process, which includes academic, socio-cultural and civic components”. Academic adaptation covers the issues of effective teaching for foreigners, building interaction with them in the process of study, practical internships, life in the dormitory, during sessions and attestations. Socio-cultural adaptation is devoted to the techniques of building effective cross-cultural communications in the host country, prevention of falling into “cultural traps” and establishment of friendly relations in the student environment. Finally, civic adaptation is aimed at gaining knowledge about the Russian state and legal system, understanding its historical traditions and achievements.

“Today we have a few opportunities for live meetings and communications with colleagues, and we have started to wean ourselves away from eye-to-eye communication. The implementation of the Potanin Foundation project presented such an opportunity - specialists from different fields and programs gathered together to understand the ways of international students' adaptation. For the first time we found common areas in teaching geodesy and sociology, tried to “make friends between soul and iron”,” commented Elvira Gayazova, Associate Professor of the Department of Innovative Entrepreneurship, Law and Financial Management.

“In the project, the partner universities, using interactive methods, as well as audiovisual formats and business games, came up with a specific way to modernize the educational and methodological documentation of lecturers. Together we gained skills in “embedding” adaptation tasks into the program of the disciplines we read. Exchange of experience and in fact “academic benchmarking” of educational technologies of KNRTU allowed the project participants from USNTU to successfully enhance their qualifications and receive state certificates,” shared her impressions Prof. Raushaniya Zinurova, Project Manager, Director of the Institute of Innovation Management.