"I work as a specialist in the Department of Academic Mobility at Russian State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU) in St. Petersburg. I was lucky to meet Lotte Skovborg from Aarhus University during her stay in St. Petersburg and when I found out about the possibility to go on north2north staff exchange program, I instantly knew which university I would like to go to.
Aarhus University has various cooperation agreements with universities around the world and lots of students participating in exchange programs. These factors make the university a great place to learn from. My main objectives for the exchange were to get familiar with internationalization strategy and exchange programs in Aarhus University, to understand how International Office works with incoming and outgoing students and find areas of mutual interests between Aarhus University and RSHU.
The visit has been very beneficial and intense. I had several meetings every day with colleagues from every department in International Office of Aarhus University. I appreciate the time they spent with me so I could get acquainted with their work, tasks and best practices used and form a step-by-step picture of the process. Besides working at RSHU I’m also at my first year of Master program in Educational Management and one of my research interests is integration programs for incoming students and their adaption to new culture, so I’m glad I received extensive information on the welcoming programs for incoming students in Aarhus University.
North2north program was also a good opportunity to network with colleagues and share the experience. I got a chance to meet with Merete Christensen, International Coordinator at the Faculty of Science and Technology, and discuss the possibilities of collaboration.
During the whole week the attitude of Danish people kept surprising me, so Lotte told me about University International Club talk on the topic of trusting Danes and I truly enjoyed it. The talk explained a lot of mysterious things about Danes.
This was my first experience of participation in staff exchange program and I feel like it is one of the most effective ways to network, share information, knowledge and practices and learn from each other.
I want to thank Lotte and International Office Team of Aarhus University for this fantastic experience".