Testimonials

My time at Polytechnic University of Saint Petersburg was an all-out amazing experience. From start to finish I was surrounded by wonderful people. Upon arrival at the airport I had all the help I could ask for by one of the students of the university. This led to an immediate feeling of ease. From the first day of the course up until the last our class was taken good care off. The start in the impressive main building was organized in great fashion, and after the introduction we had a little general information which all proved to be very useful. To end the day there was a little pub quiz which led to a lot of people being able to come together and form friendships. The teacher was an expert in her course and made the lessons very easy to pick up on. The cultural program was interesting as well, the ability to visit the Hermitage with its seemingly endless works of art and the astonishing Winter Palace. The lovely people who organized everything for us even ended up joining my group of friends for a birthday dinner/drink. After that we even went out for dinner multiple times during our stay and this sort of feeling that you’re more a group of friends than students/organizers made my stay and that of my fellow students unforgettable. All in all I can not recommend people enough to take the chance to attend a summer or winter school event and have the opportunity to meet the most amazing people from the school itself and your fellow students who attend the courses.

Hello everyone, I am Yibing Zhao from Tsinghua University, Beijing. I was in the program 'Doing Business in Russia' of International Polytechnic Winter School in 2019. This two-week experience in Saint-Petersburg left me an extraordinary memory and many take-aways. In classes, we learned the Russian history, economic and social development, as well as the Russian business environment and entrepreneurship. The well-arranged schedule enriched this short program by guiding us to Pushkin and Hermitage and the field trips to factories. Saint Petersburg fascinated me with its beautiful scenery and abundant cultural heritages, and left me no reason for not coming and visiting again.

The reasons that underpinned my decision to take part in the summer school were the international outlook of the program, the involvement of leading professors in the educational process, the visit to industrial facilities and the chance to be exposed to the Russian culture in a vibrant city as Saint-Petersburg. I am delighted that all professors, as I expected, were very knowledgeable, open-minded and positively-oriented, and also very eager to transfer their knowledge in a non-traditional (more interactive) way. Furthermore, the visit of some large electricity generation (Rosenergoatom, the branch of Leningradskaya NPP) and turbine manufacturing (REP Holding) sites was undoubtedly a cornerstone in terms of providing additional added value to the program. In addition, for the positive outcome of the school contributed the big variety of cultural activities organized during the stay. For instance, the excursions to the world-renowned The State Hermitage Museum and Peterhof Palace, and the boat trip along the Neva river were absolutely marvelous. Last but not least, all program coordinators were extremely supportive and always ready to help throughout the entire program, which has made the stay even more delightful. So this is my impression of the summer school in a nutshell. Hopefully, it will suit your needs. Please let me know if there is anything else that I have forgotten. Also, I believe that this type of international programmes are not only about acquiring new knowledge, experiencing the life in a new country with a different culture, but also about establishing new professional contacts. Hence, I am hoping that we will manage to keep our contacts successfully in the future as well. Since I don't have all the contacts of your university colleagues who have been involved in the summer school (and I don't want to miss anyone), please say hello to them from me. Lastly, I wish you a great success to all your current and future endeavours.

The summer school was an excellent experience and I am very grateful that Polytech gave me the opportunity to experience Russia firsthand and make my dream of learning Russian possible on a scholarship. I made so many close friends there and got to visit so many different cultural sites that I would not have visited otherwise. The most amazing thing that I witnessed there was the White nights. A great thank you to everyone who made the summer school possible and for providing me with a perspective of Russia that I would not have gotten otherwise.

I had such a great time at Polytech summer school! The combination of university courses and summer vacation made the experience both meaningful and fun. The safe environment of the tutors, program coordinators and other summer students eliminated a lot of the struggles of travelling alone in an unfamiliar culture. I made a lot of new friends from all around the world, and the schedule had room for a lot of sightseeing around the city. The museums, Palaces and restaurants in the city centre were easy to reach by metro after school and in the weekends. The city of Sankt Petersburg is so colorful, and crammed with beautiful things to see and exciting things to do. Don’t think twice about it, just go!