In KubSU, for the first time, the defense of Double Degree Master theses was held online
On June 30, 2020, on the KubSU on the platform of MS Teams the graduates of the International Master's Double Degree programme “Economics and Management” (hereafter MDD) successfully defended their master theses. This year they are expected to be awarded Master’s Diplomas and Master’s Degrees in Economics by the following Partner Universities: Kuban State University (KubSU, Russia), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CULS, Czech Republic), the Porto Accounting and Business School of Polytechnic of Porto (ISCAP-P.PORTO, Portugal). Moreover, if for a joint program with a Czech Partner this is already the sixth graduation of students, then for a similar program with a Portuguese University this is the first experience.
The State Final Certification procedure was held online in English. To start with, Dr. Andrey N. Kostetsky, the head of the Department of Marketing and Trading Business, Associate Professor, warmly greeted all participants of the online meeting, and then he marked the great importance of such experience of international cooperation between universities, referring to the joint double degree programmes.
The defense of master theses was carried out with the participation of two State Certification Committees - KubSU and ISCAP-P.PORTO. Each of the Committees evaluated the students’ master dissertations without taking into account the opinions of the other (Partner) side. The ISCAP-P.PORTO Committee included the academic supervisors of graduate students – participants of the MDD programme – professors Ines Alexandra Barbosa and Alcina Augusta Sena, as well as Prof. Maria Clara Dias Pinto Ribeiro – the scientific supervisor of the Master's Partnership Programme “Entrepreneurship and Internationalization”. The Committee members from Portugal asked master students many questions and actively participated in debates and discussions. The Kuban State University Committee consisted of the University staff and external experts, namely: Chairman – Yuliana Y. Perederiy, PhD in Political Science, Director of European Businesses Association (branch in Krasnodar); members – Prof. Elena A. Zhuravleva, PhD, Doctor of Sciences in Economics - the scientific supervisor of the MDD Programme “Economics and Management” at KubSU; Olga A. Kopylova, Director of Customer Relations at VTB Bank; Prof. Alexander A. Polydi, Doctor of Science in Economics, Head of Strategic Consulting Business Group – Senior Partner of Arka Group LLC; Dr. Alexander S. Yevtushenko, PhD in History, Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Regional Studies and Oriental Studies (KubSU); the Committee Secretary – Dr. Yelena S. Votchenko, PhD in Politics, Associate Professor of the Marketing and Trade Business Department (KubSU).
Our students – Antonina Lobova and Alexander Kazmin – were lucky to present their master theses to both (so considerable!) Certification Committees at the same time, and to successfully defended the dissertations despite their intense excitement.
It is worth emphasizing, that when the master students’ defenses mentioned above were over, the Portuguese colleagues didn’t hurry up to leave the online meeting at Teams, wishing to take part in the discussion of other graduate students’ dissertations as well.
Among the students who defended their graduate qualification works there were three ones from the Czech Partner University (CULS) – Angelina Bespalykh, Petr Valchuk, Svetlana Kivi. In the beginning of 2019 academic year, they came to Krasnodar to complete the second year of MDD programme at KubSU, and then – to obtain the KubSU diplomas of Russian type. So far, the Master’s double degrees/diplomas of KubSU and CULS have been awaded only to KubSU students. It is noteworthy that the first graduates of the program from the Czech Partner University will become the holders of Russian diplomas in the year of the 100th Anniversary of KubSU.
The information technologies introduced into the educational process of KubSU made it possible to simplify the procedure of joint defense of master's theses, reduce the distance between countries and overcome barriers in intercultural scientific and educational communication between specialists from Russia, the Czech Republic and Portugal.
Because of hardworking of colleagues, professors, supervisors and students of KubSU, CULS and ISCAP, despite the most difficult epidemiological situation, in 2020, diplomas and master's degrees in Economics will be awarded to:
• Svetlana Belykh, Lika Berulava, Alexander Kazmin, Antonina Lobova, Angelina Bespalykh, Petr Valchuk, Svetlana Kivi – by Kuban State University;
• Lika Berulava, Angelina Bespalykh, Petr Valchuk, Svetlana Kivi – by Czech University of Life Sciences Prague;
• Alexander Kazmin, Antonina Lobova – by Porto Accounting and Business School of Polytechnic of Porto.
The representatives of the KubSU Authorities, the Faculty of Economics, the Department of International Affairs congratulate all graduates of the Master’s Double Degree programme-2020, and sincerely wish them successful professional career in future.
The details of the programme see here: https://www.kubsu.ru/ru/econ/economics-and-management-0