Master Diploma as Excellent Pass to Science & Business

Professor Lyudmila Yakovleva, Chief of the Unit of Master Courses of Astrakhan State University, has told us about advantages of getting a master diploma.

“ASU, just as many other Russian universities, has a single system of studies: bachelor courses - master courses - PhD courses. Now our University provides education in over 30 specialties, and the number of our master programs is over 60.

The main goal of our master courses is to teach them skills of research activities. Our students learnt how to analyze scientific literature, to formulate their research issues, goals and tasks of their researches, to undertake experiments, to work in a team, to make a project, to form their leadership qualities, and so on.

Our master courses have two “poles” now: on the one hand, this stage of education stimulates students to undertake their researches and to continue their education (for example, as a future PhD); on the other hand, such courses encourage them to launch their own business, to set up their own companies. Of course, PhD courses concern more global issues, and they require a more profound analysis of the research material, but the research goals, tasks, stages, and techniques are all the same as at master courses.

Professors who teach students of master courses ought to be recognized scholars, that is, they ought to deal with relevant research projects, to be involved in grant activities, to publish their papers both in Russian and in foreign journals, and to apply innovative methods of teaching. Professors’ goal is to be able to involve their students into their joint activities, to be a moderator without dominating them.

Most of our master course students are those who graduated from ASU not long ago. There are also some people who came to improve their professional skills for different reasons: their employers require that they study, they themselves wish to become a more qualified professional, some of them wish to change a profession, and so on. As a rule, our students continue their education by studying the same field of knowledge as they did before, but sometimes they choose quite a different field - most frequently humanities (economical and legal programs) or ICT.

Our academic schedule is adapted for our students in a convenient way. Their classes take place 3 or 4 times a week in the evening; most disciplines are to be covered at the first year of studies. Their second year is mostly for practical training programs (in accordance with the federal educational standards) and for writing a master thesis.

Our educational process is arranged in close relation to business companies. For example, our Department of Physics & Technology works jointly with the Krasnye Barrikady plant in the field of Robotics for several years already. Our students are set particular tasks, and they have to make models that this plant orders them. Management of the plant gives a very positive feedback about our students’ work.

Our master courses are developing actively. We’re planning to launch new master programs considering with needs of the national and regional labor markets. We’re going to develop such specialties as Industrial Design, Logistics, Tourism, etc.

We’d like to wish our master courses to increase the number of professors’ self-developed courses, active international cooperation, and to gain new precious experience!”

Interviewed by T.Yu. Gavrilkina (the Innovative Laboratory of Information Linguistics of ASU)