After students from the HSZG visited St. Petersburg last year, the return visit took place this year.
A cooperation agreement has been in place between ITMO University (Saint Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics) and the HSCG since June 2016 and since then there has been a lively exchange of lecturers and students. With 11,600 students (including 1,400 students from 70 countries), ITMO University is one of the top 3 universities in Russia and is ranked 56th in international rankings. The "Industrial Ecology" faculty at ITMO offers a Bachelor's and Master's degree course with a comparable profile to our Bachelor's degree course in "Ecology and Environmental Protection" and our Master's degree courses in "Integrated Management Systems" / "Integrated Management".
Following last year's study trip to St. Petersburg by students from the Integrated Management Systems / Integrated Management Master's degree courses, 12 female students made a return visit this year. Together with around 70 students from Europe and students from the Integrated Management/Integrated Management Systems Master's degree courses, they took part in the Baltic University Program (BUP) Students Conference on the topic of "Innovation for Sustainable Development: Resource and Energy Efficiency in Production and Transportation".
In addition to the professional exchange, information about the study conditions and the implementation of a semester at the HSZG were also important topics of discussion between the German and Russian students and lecturers. This is because the intensive student exchange to date is to be continued in the future. A German student from the "Integrated Management Systems" course is currently writing his Master's thesis at Coca Cola in St. Petersburg on the topic of "Optimization of the internal integrated audit system" and Polina, a Russian student, has been studying at our university since the summer semester of 2018 as part of a double degree agreement.
"The semester abroad in Germany is a great experience for me - both from a personal and academic perspective. The semester at the HSZG was challenging. It is different from my home university. The course is more practical and I had to work through a lot of the content on my own. I really enjoyed both. The courses were exciting and informative. The lecturers actively involved us in the lessons.
I also had a lot of fun with my fellow students this semester. We did lots of things together, such as having a barbecue or going wine tasting. My fellow students, the lecturers at the HSZG and the staff at the International Office were always on hand to answer any questions I had.
I really enjoyed my time in Zittau and made new friends. I will always remember the great time I had here. I would recommend a semester abroad in Zittau to anyone." Polina Nikitenko
We would like to thank the DAAD for funding the study trip of the Russian students to our university from the "Study Internship" program and for funding Polina Nikitenko's studies abroad and the trip of her course director Prof. Dr. Olga Sergienko via the ERASMUS+ program. We would also like to thank Stephanie Ludwig and Simone Kunze from the International Office for their support in implementing the mobilities.