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Promoting Mutual Understanding through Educational Exchange. Vail Kohnert-Yount Lesley Kucharski Anastasia Kravtsova Artem Merkuschev. Why did they study where they did?. Importance of Mutual Understanding. Mutual understanding between citizens of these two countries is improving - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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VAIL KOHNERT-YOUNTLESLEY KUCHARSKI
ANASTASIA KRAVTSOVAARTEM MERKUSCHEV
Promoting Mutual Understanding through Educational Exchange
Why did they study where they did?
Importance of Mutual Understanding
Mutual understanding between citizens of these two countries is improving
However, more progress must be made
Bilateral Presidential Commission
“President Medvedev and I are creating a U.S.-Russian Bilateral Presidential Commission to serve as a new foundation for this cooperation. Too often, the United States and Russia only communicate on a narrow range of issues, or
let old habits within our bureaucracy stand in the way of progress.”
“We decided to create a presidential commission on cooperation, which will be coordinating relations among various agencies of the United States and
the Russian Federation, respectively, in all priority areas, including economic and military areas.”
Americans Studying Russian
Americans and Russians on Exchange
Exchange Experience
Why do Americans study in Russia? Why
do Russians study in America?
What do they look for in an
exchange program?
How does participation in
an exchange program affect perceptions of each country?
How do exchange participants share their
experience?
FLEX
FLEX provides scholarships for high school students from Eurasia to spend an academic year in the United States
Student live with an American family and attend an American high school
More than 23,000 high school students from CIS countries have taken part in the FLEX program in its 20 year existence
In 2012-13, 800 FLEX students are studying in the U.S.
Fully funded by the U.S. government
CIEE
Nonprofit, non-governmental international exchange founded in 1947
Established first study abroad in Russia opportunity for American students in 1967
Students study at Saint Petersburg State University while living with Russian families
From 2007 to 2012, participation increased by 110%, reflecting the positive trend of Americans studying in Russia
During the 2010-2011 academic year, 10% of Americans studying in Russia were CIEE participants
Fulbright
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State that offers students, teachers, artists, and other professionals to teach or conduct research abroad
Funded by U.S. Congress, private donors, universities, and binational Fulbright Commissions
In 2010, 149 of the organization’s 6,000 grants were awarded to Russians
Offers 80-90 awards annually to U.S. citizens who want to travel to Russia
Why did they choose Russia and the U.S.?
American response:studying some
combination of russian, russian literature, and russian history
Future prospect and simply intrigue were also indicated (not as prevalent)
Russian response:learn another cultureperfect language
skillsProfessional
development and a valuable experience (not as prevalent)
Americans Russians
Strong connection between a program and their home university
FinancesLimited options
FinancesOrganizationReputationFlexible, not longDegree, publicationDidn't know about
anything else
Reasons for Choosing a Program
Finances
Visas To Russia - $140 + $30 processing fee To America- $160
Principal road-block for RussiansNo program fully sponsored by the Russian
government that sends people abroad for even an academic semester
For Americans, finances were important, but can find resources from their college, government, or other source
How did they share their experience?
Social media
School Projects
Traditional media
90%
47%
19%
Impact of the Exchange Experience
81% of the respondents say, after participating in a an exchange program their understanding of Russian/American culture, politics and history increased significantly (the rest say “increased”)
88% believe that cultural exchanges promote mutual understanding and respect between Americans and Russians (the rest say, “I don’t know”)
70% were either influenced of strongly influenced to pursue academic or professional career related to US-Russia relations
Impact of the Exchange Experience
“The way to change [negative perceptions] is to just hang out with one person at a time. We're the ambassadors there in many ways”
“I wouldn't say the program directly promoted this in a large way, but because it presented and promoted opportunities to interact with Russians”
Impact of the Exchange Experience
The view of Russians/Americans after participating in a program:
didn't change
unfavorable
very unfavorable
more favorable
much more favorable
13%
2%
0%
46%
39%
What role has this experience played in your life?
Summary
1. Perceptions are improving2. There is stagnation in studying abroad on
both sides3. Increased interest in studying Russian
among Americans 4. Main reasons for studying abroad differ: Americans related to their field of studyRussians opportunities, experience, language
Summary continued
5. Program choice: Americans strong connections with university, limited
options, finances Russians lack of awareness, full funding6. Finances were very important in the decision to
study abroad, especially for Russians.7. Participant perceptions were most positively
influenced and they helped improve perceptions of friends and family.
8. Respondents shared their experience most through social media. A large percent of Russian participants made a school project about their experience.
Americans Russians
“I had been studying Russian in college for 2 years and knew I wouldn't make any substantial improvements unless I actually spent time in Russia.”
“It was the only program to Russia my school worked with.”
“It was by chance - the only program I’ve heard of at the time.”
“I didn’t even know about others.”
“There are more opportunities in the U.S. than in Russia.”
“I’ve chosen FLEX because it gave me full scholarship and a monthly allowance. Otherwise, I could not afford it to study abroad for a year.”
“It seemed like a great opportunity to see the world and gain more experiences, meet different kinds of people and represent my homeland in places where people have never heard of it.”
Summary
Increase participants Improve experience
Russia needs to invest more money
Create programs targeted toward younger adults
Create selective flagship programs
Market programs to American youth better
Build connections with U.S. universities
Require post-exchange experience sharing in home community
Require online posting to encourage peer-to-peer interaction
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