TRAVEL REPORT CONTENTS. St. Petersburg State University. Graduate School of Management (GSOM) Master s degree. Spring k93654

Transcription

1 TRAVEL REPORT St. Petersburg State University Graduate School of Management (GSOM) Master s degree Spring 2015 k93654 CONTENTS Before exchange... 2 First contact... 2 Visa... 2 Course choices... 3 Trip... 3 Border-crossing... 3 Beginning of the semester... 4 Arrival... 4 Registration... 4 Semester... 4 Studying... 4 International Business Strategy, Andrey Panibratov... 5 Global Economic Environment, Igor Baranov... 5 Global Economic Governance, Olga Garanina... 5 Consulting Project... 6 Housing... 6 Culture... 7 Travel... 7 Recommendation... 7

2 BEFORE EXCHANGE FIRST CONTACT I received the first from the exchange university on 12 September. It included a link and a pin code to an online student application form. I was asked to fill in the information that they needed for the visa application. VISA Applying for a visa to Russia is always a journey in to the unknown. As always in Russia, there are plenty of written rules, but usually only some of them are followed. On the other hand, officials are in the habit of creating new rules. Fortunately, the most difficult parts of the visa application process were handled by the university. The process went like this: 1. I attached the following document to the student application form: Academic transcript. You must provide us with your latest university academic report reflecting your grades and your GPA covering the period of your studies at your home university. English language proficiency confirmation letter. When applying for exchange at GSOM make sure you have sufficient proficiency in English to follow university-level courses in English. You should prove your level of English by attaching to your application a copy of any international exam certificate or a letter of confirmation from your home university. GSOM requires minimum English language proficiency equal to TOEFL 550 (paper-based test). The international office provided me with a letter of confirmation. Health insurance certificate. You can attach your current insurance, however, be informed that before coming to Russia you must obtain the medical insurance for covering expenses connected with possible health problems or accidents. We would like to mention that in some countries the absence of medical insurance can be a reason for rejection of a visa application. In accordance with the agreement between your Home School/University and St. Petersburg University, GSOM you must in any case have health insurance before your arrival to Russia. I extended the coverage of my travel insurance by two month because it was valid for only 90 days from arrival. Because I had difficulties with getting a certificate that proved the extension from the insurance company, I attached the certificate proving coverage for the first 90 days. In the end, I never needed the certificate again. Btw, insurance companies refuse to stamp the certificates. Photo. The photo will end up to the invitation letter application as an attachment and to the school s website as your profile picture. Curriculum vitae. Consider this your self-introduction to the federal officials. Include what you want. 2. Based on this information, the university asked the Federal Migration Service to write an invitation letter for me. 3. After around five weeks, the invitation letter was ready. The university then mailed me an official document proving the existence of the invitation letter. 4. I filled in an online application for a single entry student visa at the Russian visa center s website and printed it.

3 5. I went to the Russian Visa Center in Kamppi and handed in my passport, the printed application and the above-mentioned attachments except the health insurance. For some reason, that was not needed. I heard that once they asked for a stamped insurance certificate from someone else. When the applicant didn t have such certificates, as Finnish insurance companies refuse to stamp them, another option was to scan the insurance cards. Of course the applicants didn t have them either. There was one more option left: the helpful customer servant gave each applicant a slip of paper; the applicants wrote I have a valid health insurance. on them, and signed below. Everything was fine then. Yes. True story. COURSE CHOICES Some months before my exchange, I chose my courses online. They could be changed later. TRIP I took the Allegro train from Helsinki. The three-and-a-half hour trip is pleasant and fast. The cheapest trains, which leave in the early morning, cost 30 to 40 euros; the most expensive ones, which leave in the afternoon, cost 70 to 90 euros; evening trains are in the middle. There was also an on-board free Wi-Fi on the train, but, unfortunately, it always stopped working on the Russian side of the border. The limit of two baggages per passenger should not be taken too seriously. Trains are seldom fully-booked, and no-one s counting. Anyway, rules are flexible in Russia. If someone complains, be surprised and negotiate. Another alternative is to take a bus. They are modern and comfortable. The trip costs only 25 euros but takes longer. The schedule says that it will take seven hours, but in reality is unlikely to take much more than five. They just overestimate the time to be on the safe side, because sometimes there are unexpected delays on the border. In any case, prepare to be yelled at by angry Russians if you, as the only foreigner, are the cause of the delay. Don t take it personally. Most Russians are hospitable and friendly to people they know, but some of them don t behave like this with strangers. If you want to set yourself on a Russian mood right from the outset, take a minibus, or marshrutka in Russian. They depart from the parking lot behind Autotalo. You might have to negotiate over the price but the going rate is between 5 and 20 euros. I ve understood that you get a cheaper rate, if you have your own visa. You might have heard warnings and horror stories about marshrutkas: they drive recklessly, they don t use winter tyres, Karelian roads are patchy and slippery, drivers zip vodka occasionally, and so on. The anecdotes are probably based on true stories, but when return from exchange, your attitude might be different. BORDER-CROSSING Before or at the border you will receive a slip of paper called the migration card. It doesn t look like much, but don t lose it; you will have to present it, when you exit the country. If you lose it, it s not the end of the world, though. You won t get an entry ban for this (for some other minor mistakes you do), but you will have to pay unpleasantly high but reasonable fines at the border. If I remember correctly, the fine is 100 to 200 euros. Some entries in the migration card are ambiguous. For example, there is a place for the visa number, but you can find two serial numbers on your visa. The right number is the Visa ID, which includes both letters and numbers. My experience of customs control is from the train and from the sea port. The procedure might be very different when crossing by bus or by car. Allegro doesn t stop on the border; customs control is done on board. On the Finnish side, it s quite straightforward. On the Russian side, it s done the Russian way.

4 If you don t find a common language with the customs officer, she will probably only ask to see your passport and migration card, and stamps your card then. If she speaks English, she might ask you a series of questions: Why do come to Russia?, When do you leave?, Do you have medicines or professional instruments with you?, How much cash do you carry and which currency is it?. Food for personal use is allowed despite food import bans. They might ask to see the receipts, but usually they re not so interested in foreigners luggage. Also a stash of less than several thousand euros is completely fine. I don t know about the medicine. BEGINNING OF THE SEMESTER ARRIVAL My buddy was waiting for me at the exit of the international wing of the Finland Station, or Finlyandskiy vokzal. We walked to the Lenin square, hopped on a car, and then she drove me to the dormitory on Kapitanskaya ulitsa. With the help of my buddy, I registered to the dormitory. The closest shop was nearby. Everything is in Russian and only young people speak (some) English. But it was fine. REGISTRATION During the first weeks, the university officially registered me as a student, and I got a student card. To apply for a multiple-entry student visa for the duration of the whole semester, I had to hand in my passport. This meant that during the application period, six weeks, I wasn t allowed to leave the Leningrad region (the region s name hasn t been changed since Soviet times for some reason). In case of an emergency or the funeral of a relative, the application process could have been sped up. The Leningrad region extends up to the Finnish border so I could travel to Vyborg and Kronstadt. As the single-entry visa was valid for 90 days, I also could have chosen to delay the multiple-entry visa application for some weeks to travel around Russia. I didn t do this because I wanted to get the multiple-entry visa as soon as possible. When the visa application was made, I received a receipt. According to Russia s law, I had to carry copies of this receipt, passport, and visa at all times with me. In practice, being caught without them was not a big deal if you look European. The police targeted mostly Asian- and African-looking people on streets and at metro stations. I don t know whether this has changed since. SEMESTER STUDYING I took four courses during the spring, 6 credits each. In general, studying was, well, an interesting experience. Most professors were Russian, and you could definitely notice it. Their views of what scientific research is about, what studying in a university should be like, how doing business works, and what is happening in world politics were odd or plain ridiculous for us Westerners at times. The emphasis was on producing senseless quantities of text, mostly by copying someone else s ideas; and your views had better be in line with those of the professor, because the professor was the Authority. The quality of the text didn t matter much, because as the Russian students told us nobody reads the essays anyway. All that said, the semester wasn t a complete waste of time; this was part of the

5 cultural experience that I went looking for. I m happy I found it. I heard from CEMS students that some of their courses were better than the general courses. During the whole semester, it didn t really become clear to me whether lecture attendance was mandatory. When people skipped lectures (especially the Russian students did that often), some professors reprehended them; some didn t care much. In any case, absence affected only the grade, if at all. Traveling is possible throughout the semester. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STRATEGY, ANDREY PANIBRATOV This course was about internationalisation strategies. The emphasis was on foreign companies expanding to Russia and other emerging markets. Before each lecture, students had to read a case text. It was then discussed in groups, each of which had their own assignment. Each group then presented their answer to their question. The course was graded based on group projects, individual assignments, and class participation. Class participation didn t mean only attendance; also activity and other behaviour (like the number of times a student went to the toilet during the lecture) counted. GLOBAL ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT, IGOR BARANOV This course was mostly about basic economic concepts and their application to the real world. This was the official description of the course: The aim of this course is to provide master students, specializing in international business, with the knowledge of what the major issues affecting the global economy are and likely to be in the next decade. Rather than delivering a standard course in international economics for economists, the goal is to understand the broad factors that shape the global economy. We will cover traditional topics in international economics, such as trade and trade policy as well as open-economy macroeconomics, but also discuss some issues related to economic growth and its differentiation across countries, political economy of development, and economics of emerging markets. As well as providing a deeper insight into policy and market issues, the course aims to give you greater experience in applying analytical tools developed during basic economics course as well as extending your existing theoretical toolkit. It should be of use and of interest to anyone who intends to work in an international corporation, in financial markets or intending to move into government or policymaking. GLOBAL ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE, OLGA GARANINA The professor, a Marxist-leaning academic, was probably among the best professors of the school. This course was about political economy. The emphasis was on how international organisations are formed and which effect they have on their members. The topics included: theoretical traditions in global political economy, cooperation and conflicts in the global political economy, domestic sources of foreign economic policies, evolution of the global trade regime, regional trade agreements, global value chains and globalisation of production, evolution of the international monetary and financial system, the political economy of global financial crises, growth, inequality, and poverty, and

6 globalisation and the environment. The course consisted of lectures and essays. Essays were written mostly individually, but one was also written in groups. The length of the group essay was around 15 pages. These were the suggested topics for the group project: Russia s membership in the WTO: intermediate results Post-soviet space in Russia s economic strategy Russia and BRICs Impact of sanctions on Russian economy (focus on a specific industry) Russian balance of payments vulnerabilities Russian environmental policies in global context CONSULTING PROJECT The consulting project sounded interesting, but it didn t reach up to our expectations. Each group was assigned a company based on applications. Then the companies gave the specific details of the project they had chosen for the course. Projects were supervised by a faculty member and a company representative. Most companies were Russian corporations or Western multinationals, but ours was a small, Russian start-up company. We actually never met any employees of the company; we only met a representative of a Russian incubator twice. The company employees were always in Siberia or simply busy, when our group suggested meeting with them. As part of our project, we did some market research only to find out that there s also a Dutch company with the same name and similar logo. That was, well, an interesting discovery. HOUSING Most students lived in the dormitory at Kapitanskaya ulitsa 3. It took 15 to 25 minutes to get from there to the city centre, which was seven kilometres away. The rent was around 100 euros a month (the exchange rate was quite volatile). There were four to seven people living in each apartment. Most people had one or two roommates. The apartments were not luxurious: paint was starting to peel off the wall, beds were short and hard, room temperature was often too hot or too cold, kitchenware had to be bought by the students. Cleaning service was included in the price, but the cleaning lady used most of her time hanging out in kitchens or complaining about the rearrangement of furniture. However, there were no bugs or dirt and there was a laundry service, so it was ok. Drinking in the dorm was strictly prohibited, which, in Russia, is quite often an indication of a local custom. Also Don t smoke here sign might be used to mark the places where people often smoke. Of course, rules shouldn t be broken openly, but the attitude towards them is somewhat different in Russia. The rules were supervised by the staff. Some students rented apartments from the private market. It s not really as difficult as some people make it sound. You should be careful that you don t pay too much, but reputable real estate agents don t do scams. They might not speak English so well, though. Reputable real estate agents can be found by asking for their contact information from local students (both Russian and foreign). Rents are similar to those in Helsinki. For example, a three-bedroom apartment right next to the Palace Square cost 1300 to 2200 euros a month (depending on the current exchange rate).

7 CULTURE Students could buy very cheap tickets to operas and ballets at the Mariinsky theatre every month through the university. Normally tickets cost up to hundreds of euros; we paid 10 to 20 euros for very good seats. Tickets could be bought for parents and friends, too. Overall, museum tickets are cheap, and the student card gives a discount or free entry. TRAVEL Flights to Moscow are cheap. There s also a fast train connection. Train tickets elsewhere cost more. There s a 90 minute train connection to Vyborg. Marshrutkas, or minibuses, go to Kronstadt, Tsarskoye Selo, and Peterhof. You can get to Shlisselburg ( Pähkinäsaari ) by bus. I also took the St. Peter s Line cruise to Helsinki, Stockholm, and Tallinn. It only cost 120 euros for a cabin of four. RECOMMENDATION If you want to go to a good university for exchange, St. Petersburg is definitely not for you. If you re interested in experiencing Russia from within, then St. Petersburg might be a good choice. But you should also consider Moscow.