Moving Forward Cooperation With Ca’foscari University Of Venice, Italy
Continuing the series of Italian meetings, started in early 2015 (involving meeting with University of Turin and public lecture by Professor Piergiorgio Odifreddi on Mathematics and the Arts, visit by representatives from LUISS, University of Genoa etc.), this time, on 24 June 2015 HSE Office for International Cooperation hosted the delegation from Ca’Foscari University of Venice, represented by Daniela Rizzi, our partnership coordinator and Tenured Professor, Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies, Giancarlo Coro', Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Mario Volpe, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, and Lucy Kuzminova, Coordinator of Internships and Career Service.
The meeting aimed at discussion on evaluation of student exchanges between Ca’Foscari University of Venice and HSE and new initiatives for students proposed at Italian side, including academic achievements of Venetian students at HSE, possibility of implementing short-term courses in Russian on Economics and languages of Eastern Europe for Venetian students within workshop at Ca’Foscari University of Venice, etc.
Cooperation between HSE and Ca’Foscari University of Venice started in 2012 with Agreement on Cooperation and Student Exchange and has been strengthening through joint staff visits and intensive student exchanges. As mentioned by Sofia Sadykova, Head of International Students Support, Office of Internationalization, there are 10 exchange students from Ca’Foscari University of Venice currently studying at HSE, provided with adequate administrative support. Within the exchange period from 2013 to 2015 HSE hosted 13 students from Ca’Foscari in general. There were 2 Italian students in spring semester of 2013/2014, this year HSE hosts 6 students from Ca’Foscari University of Venice, having an advanced level in Russian as a foreign language. Next semester HSE will welcome 5 students from Ca’Foscari, one of those is a full-year student studying Languages. Also this year HSE welcomes 2 interns from Ca’Foscari (areas of interest: Philology and Social Sciences). The most popular areas chosen by students are Languages, Economics, Management, International Relations, and Russian as a Foreign Language.
There were several areas of interest identified between the Universities during the meeting hosted by HSE Office for International Cooperation: economics, management, philology and energy.
Representatives from Ca’Foscari University of Venice expressed their strong interest in exploring existing cooperation between our institutions and move it forward through extending 1-year Master’s in Economics and Management of Eastern Europe student’s study trips to Russia and internships for students in leading Russian and Italian companies.
The meeting also involved Lyudmila Zasimova, Deputy Dean for International Cooperation, Faculty of Economics, who invited Ca’Foscari students to various English-taught courses and internships at Faculty of Economics.
In relation to extending 1-year Master’s at Ca’Foscari, the delegation payed its attention to HSE’s Doing Business in Russia Educational Module, directed by Professor Natalya Guseva from School of Business Administration, Faculty of Business and Management, who shared her experience in internships organisation with German companies through DAAD and invited Italian students to participate in this Module with a potential cooperation with Ca’Foscari and Italian companies operating in Russia.
Possibilities of joint research and teaching in philology, i.e. cross-cultural communication, discourse-analysis and life-narratives, history of culture, linguistics and language expertise, as well as literal studies were also discussed between Professor Mira Bergelson, Irina Efimenko, Deputy Head and Associate Professor from School of Philology, Faculty of Humanities and Professor Daniela Rizzi. The parties also discussed potential design of Master’s double degree program or special program for Italian students studying Russian Studies and Russian Culture, and expressed their interest in Coursera course on Understanding Russians: Contexts of Intercultural Communication, led by Prof. Mira Bergelson.
Georgy Ermolenko, Head of Center for Technological Forecasting in the Energy Sector, Institute of Energy shared his interest in joint research and cooperation with Ca’Foscari in energy markets in Eastern Europe and investment engineering.
Dmitry Bolkunets from HSE Centre for Alumni Affairs discussed specific steps in cooperation development with Internships and Career Service of Ca’Foscari University of Venice – he invited Lucy Kuzminova to attend HSE Day in Gorky Park and alumni and career development event there; specific cooperation steps will be further discussed and identified during further visits and communication.
Currently, HSE Office for International Cooperation invites HSE colleagues to contact Alyona Sutormina to express the interest in further cooperation, share your Ca’Foscari contact links, cooperation experience and proposals.
To add, HSE now works with 11 Italian partners, with whom 18 agreements have already been signed, and 6 of those refer to student exchange.