ITMO is one of the TOP 3 universities in Russia and is ranked 56th in international rankings.
The cooperation with ITMO University (Saint Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics) will be further intensified in the future. Following the conclusion of an interinstitutional agreement between ITMO and the HSZG in July 2016, the first student mobility took place in the 2016/17 winter semester and the first lecturer mobility in January 2017, funded by the ERASMUS program. These "pilots" served to gain experience in academic cooperation. The Faculty of Industrial Ecology offers a Bachelor's and Master's degree course with a similar profile to our Bachelor's degree course in Ecology and Environmental Protection and our Master's degree courses in Integrated Management Systems /Integrated Management.
The first student on the Integrated Management course successfully completed her semester abroad at ITMO in January. Not only did she pass all her exams with distinction, she also successfully completed an internship at Coca Cola in the QM department. The topic was the adaptation of the integrated management system to the requirements of the revised ISO standards. St. Petersburg is one of 11 Coca Cola bottling sites in Russia.
During their visit at the end of January, Prof. Dr. Jana Brauweiler, Prof. Dr. Bernd Delakowitz and Anke Zenker-Hoffmann agreed a future double degree program, a study trip to St. Petersburg in September 2017 on the topic of "Resource and energy efficient management" and further student and lecturer exchanges with the Dean of the Faculty of Industrial Ecology, the Director and representatives of the International Office. Although these initially relate to the Master's degree programs "Integrated Management Systems"/"Integrated Management", the expansion of activities is also possible for the Bachelor's degree program "Ecology and Environmental Protection" in the future.
With 11,600 students (including 1,400 students from 70 countries), ITMO is one of the TOP 3 universities in Russia and is ranked 56th in international rankings (see en.ifmo.ru for more information).
Students from both our Bachelor's and Master's degree programs are very welcome to do further internships at Coca Cola in St. Petersburg. At least a very good knowledge of English is required; knowledge of Russian is also advantageous, but not a prerequisite. In preparation for a stay abroad, ITMO offers Russian language courses (1 week - 300 euros, 2 weeks - 360 euros, 3 weeks - 390 euros including cultural program. For more information see http://schools.ifmo.ru/en/1).
What the student says:
The semester abroad has been a valuable experience for me, both from an academic and a personal point of view. During my time in St. Petersburg, I had the chance to live in a special city, get to know life there in a really authentic way and immerse myself in a new culture. I was also able to make many international contacts.
In some respects, the Russian lecturers hold different opinions and base their theories on other theories. This change of perspective compared to the German education system broadened the horizon of my academic education and gave me new input.
Through the internship I completed, I was also able to gain valuable insights into the private sector and apply my theoretical knowledge to solving specific problems."
We would like to thank the ERASMUS+ programme for the financial support and the Academic Administration for the professional and organizational support of our student's semester abroad and our lecturer mobilities.