Marat Raimkhanov, 35 years old, hometown — Ust-Kamenogorsk, teacher
On the first education, I am a philologist, bachelor of Philology. I have two foreign degrees. The first I received in 2006-2008, it was a master's degree in public administration at the London School of Economics.
The second time I had a chance to study abroad, when I became a member of the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship scholarship program-this is us state scholarship. Hubert Humphrey Fellowship does not provide a scholarship, and it is a nine-month program of professional development, immersion in American culture, networking-communication with American, international experts, experts in the field chosen by the scholarship holder. In General, this is an introduction to the American way of life, because before that I was in the States twice, and both times it was a business trip. According to the terms of the program, the scholarship holder chooses a speciality but does not choose a University.
My speciality is media and communications. I went to one of the best schools of journalism, the school of journalism at the University of Maryland. The University is located near the U.S. capital, Washington.
I have the opportunity to compare two universities: the American University of Maryland and the British — London School of Economics. In the British University a lot of traditional and classical. American University seemed more modern. It has been a while since I was in England, but I have the impression that the American education system is more focused on practical knowledge and skills. In addition to education, when students go to lectures and seminars, learn something on their own, and a lot is aimed at instilling soft skills.
We had a lot of workshops on the topic of time and stress management. Americans in this respect are practical, a person who has developed skills such as emotional intelligence or the ability to manage stress, learns more successfully than a person who owns these skills badly or does not own at all. We also analyzed many cases from real life.
American students are jealous of the time they spend at the University. They try to spend it as rich as possible. We had a lot of programs in Maryland and participated in various cultural events and events. Every day there were performances, shows, performances, lectures of famous people, gathered clubs. The life of an American student is full, especially for bachelors.
In terms of student life, the University of Maryland is one of the best places to study
This is a huge University with its campus, hostel. They have a huge campus, famous for the entire East coast stadium, where various sports events are held, a large free sports centre with a swimming pool and a gym. Own farm, stable.
The most important lesson I learned from my studies at the University of Maryland and continue to implement in my life is volunteering. The Americans I know from childhood, what is volunteering, participating in various projects. For example, as University students, we Packed food that Americans bought at their own expense. It was food for people in need of financial help.
I have acquired intercultural communication skills. Students from all over the world studied at our University. It is useful to communicate with people of different cultures, with other life experiences, have the opportunity to dive and see their point of view.
In choosing a University, you need to pay attention, not to the prestige of the University, it is overall rating, but to the rating of the speciality, you are entering.
Alexander Jonesi, hometown — Reston, photographer
Many members of my family have graduated from the University of Maryland. It was the first campus I went to as a kid. Held a special event Maryland Day, which talked about the University. As a first-year student, I entered there in 2011 and graduated in 2015 with a degree in environmental science and policy.
I chose my faculty because this topic was interesting to me. Also important for me were such advantages as a large number of acquaintances and communication with different people. These are connections that further help in learning and work.
It is an open and friendly University. There are different types of classes — from regular classes in lecture halls to blended learning with one class per week online. Discussion in small groups is convenient because you can work with the teaching assistant for training and to receive personal help. Blended learning is useful because the online classroom format is more appropriate for the learning style of today's youth. And students often create group documents that everyone has access to.
I like my University and would definitely recommend it to others. The culture and environment of the University are ideal for people engaged in innovative entrepreneurship.
I spent four and a half years on a bachelor's degree and loved every second I spent there. Now I am entering another degree at the same University.
I was involved in a lot of classes on campus, which allowed me to get a diverse experience that comes in handy to me every day. The University also taught me time management. The skills I have gained now help me very much to be successful in many projects I am engaged in.
Leonid Zemtsev, 41 years old, hometown — Moscow, product development director
At the end of 2015, I started to actively engage in venture investment in startups. Despite the fact that my basic education is economic, I realized that I didn't have enough new knowledge. I have actively read articles and research in this area. Came across articles by Michael Pratt of the University of Maryland, as well as his colleague James green. They described in detail the processes of corporate innovation, technological entrepreneurship, fundraising startups. It turned out that the University has a special course and training program Entrepreneurship: Launching an Innovative Business. I decided to enrol in this program.
We also analyzed many cases from real life. An additional argument was the cost of training, which at that time was the most attractive to me.
The University of Maryland is one of the most famous and promising educational institutions in the USA. It has a huge network of contacts and partnerships, joint training programs with dozens of universities and research centres in America. The University also boasts the oldest academic school of management and entrepreneurship, which has become an Academy. A large number of courses, entrepreneurial initiatives, startups and corporate collaboration programs.
The University actively supports students in innovative entrepreneurship programs. So, even in the process of training, you can pass an internal accelerator of mentoring programs, including with the involvement of graduates. Solve problems in the field of intellectual property protection, IP rights and licensing.
The culture and environment of the University are ideal for people engaged in innovative entrepreneurship.
I would recommend this University for several reasons. There is a great teaching staff, a culture of organization and management, which helps to apply knowledge in practice, developed infrastructure, focused on innovative entrepreneurship, extensive links with many technological corporations. By the way, they are implementing their internal programs on technological leadership and innovation together with the University. The University environment, which takes into account the multicultural components of students and excellent standards of teaching!
In my opinion, this is the best ratio of the price and quality of education in the field of innovative entrepreneurship
This education allowed adopting the culture of perception of business relations. Things that previously seemed unsolvable or impossible, no longer seem so. Appeared methods and solutions to problems in raising Finance, packaging ideas, marketing, communications with customers, investors. Most strongly these skills and knowledge will be useful when testing hypotheses, the formation and design of future business models, building relations with the founders of projects and investors.
The main skill that I have acquired is the expansion of horizons and the ability to solve non — standard problems. In Russia, it is called troubleshooting, while there is a routine task of the innovative entrepreneur. Perhaps this is the most valuable thing-a change of attitude, view and opinion on a whole range of tasks and the ability to look beyond the horizons.
