Undergraduate

Shaninka is highly demanding in terms of languages in. Even I, a native English speaker, sometimes get into a trouble, when I do now understand something. And there is an opportunity to choose any second language to learn. My brother is now entering a university in England, and he is provided with the same language choices that we have.

There are small groups in Shaninka, now I have less than 20 people on my course. This impacts how the academic staff teaches and interfaces with us.

As an academic tutor, I help students overcome their fears related to texts written by other people and to stop suffering when they compose their own texts. Students come to me when they need to choose or clarify the topic of their written work, to structure the draft, put their thoughts in words, improve the already completed text, master their skills related to reading and comprehension of sophisticated texts, understand where to look and how to select material for essay, course paper or graduation paper.

Last year we had seminars by Alexander Zaritsky on Political Science; firstly, he gave us some text to read at home. When you read it you understand only half of it. And then in class we begin to discuss it, and everyone puts forward their own hypotheses, asks what was unclear to him or her. It's great that we discuss everything together and come up to some conclusions together. It is not so that anyone has to figure it out for himself/herself, while in the classroom someone will have to provide “correct” explanations. It is also very nice when the lecturer calls us colleagues. It's a little funny though.

Firstly, it is an open communication “lecture – student”. You listen, and you can speak, they allow you to do it. At our university there are no lectures at all, classes are seminars, discussions.
Then there are high demands to academic progress. There will be serious questions for you, if you do not show good academic performance and are not highly involved in learning, this is the key. Because you can be, I don’t know, a genius, and may not attend the classes, and then you come to take an exam and pass it, but this will not last long. It creates a competitive environment, and it is very cool to be a part of it.
And finally, here we have interesting disciplines. Every time I come to the classes, I learn something new, just every day! Except, maybe, the English classes. You can easily see that all lecturers are very prepared people: it will surely take time when they will not be able to teach us anything new, as it happens sometimes in Russian universities.

Shaninka is highly demanding in terms of languages in. Even I, a native English speaker, sometimes get into trouble, when I do now understand something. And there is an opportunity to choose any second language to learn. My brother is now entering a university in England, and he is provided with the same language choices that we have.

For example, we read a text and everything written seems to be as clear as crystal, even in Russian. But when you yourself try to comprehend it, ask questions about the text, it can be very difficult. There is a teacher who does not experience the same difficulties as you do, but at the same time he/she does not share his/her ultimate truth, but helps you to streamline your thought process. Sometimes he suggests: “Imagine that you are Weber, and you are Sombart, please argue with each other!” This is exactly how it works: by finding arguments to defend your position, you can comprehend the meaning of what you have read. When we have discussions during our classes, everyone participates in the discussion and the level of engagement depends on how much you have to contribute to the discussion. It does not happen this way that there is one talking head while the rest of us must agree with what is being said and cannot challenge it because of the speaker’s authority. Authority is shaped through discussion.

The Shaninka Library is a wonderful place; it is like a life hack. I do not know how other students manage to organize their work, I cannot study at home – I am distracted by everything. While here you enjoy a working atmosphere, you come and feel yourself being a part of something more meaningful than just your homework.

Early this year, some of my fellow students and I organized the freshmen initiation in Shaninka. We liked that you can gather different people in a place to communicate, have fun, and no pressure on anyone in terms of any ceremonies - we just got together and talk, everyone finds a company for themselves.