Student from USA Shares His Impressions of Ural Federal University and Russia

15:29, September 29, 2020

«I think Russia is a great country. I have no doubt that in many aspects it is a first world country»

Jorge Martinez, came to Ekaterinburg from San Diego, California in 2019 to take a Master’s degree in IT Innovations in Business at UrFU Engineering School of Information Technologies, Telecommunications and Control Systems. Before pursuing studies at Ural Federal University, he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration from San Diego State University.

The American student came to the decision of getting a Master’s degree in Russia during the FIFA world cup in 2018, as he visited several Russian cities to watch the football matches and was amazed by the country:

“I figured that studying here would allow me to work on my educational goal and also come back and discover more of the Russian culture,”- tells Jorge.

He researched online for different Universities in different cities of Russia looking at rankings to see which were the most recognized. He was mainly looking at Universities that had Master's programs in English language.

 “There were two main reasons of why I chose UrFU. The first one was the educational programs offered here. There were 2 Master programs offered in English in which I had interest. One was the IT Innovations in Business and the other was in International Trade and Entrepreneurship. I applied for both and later decided which to keep. The second was a financial decision. Overall, it was more affordable to study in UrFU than in other Russian Universities. Not to mention, way cheaper than studying in the USA or Mexico. This includes both tuition fees and cost of living,”- explains the student.

To what the student from another end of the globe has been able to experience, Jorge Martinez has a positive image of Ural Federal University:

“The University is very big to the point where I will not be able to see it all by the time I finish my program. The main buildings have beautiful Roman style architecture. There are security checks on all entrances. All classrooms have everything they need, computers, projectors etc. The professors are easy to reach and always willing to help with doubts or concerns. The administrative staff is very helpful. Mainly during the enrolling process, it necessary to visit different offices. In most of the offices there was always someone who spoke English. In cases where there wasn’t an English-speaking person the University has a program that provides the assistance of bilingual students to help you with all processes.”

Apart of that, Jorge Martinez enjoys the experience of living in a new country and meeting new people from different backgrounds. Besides the obvious of meeting Russian people, he has also had the chance of meeting people from many other countries of the world and it has been a unique experience that the student from USA is happy to have had the chance to live.

When talking about his general impressions of Russia, Jorge says: “I think Russia is a great country. I have no doubt that in many aspects it is a first world country. I have visited many cities and they all have something different and special to offer. Each city has different architecture, different natural landscapes, even different cultural aspects.”

Living 10,000 kilometers away from home can be hard and the student’s original plan was to go back to California after finishing studies at UrFU. But one year away from graduation, he can’t say for sure what to do afterwards:

“If I get a good employment opportunity in Russian it is possible that I can stay here longer,” – concluded Jorge Martinez.