SAS STUDENT University of Tyumen, Siberia HANDBOOK Table of Сontents INTRODUCTION 1. PART ONE: FINDING YOUR WAY 1.1. THE INITIAL DESIGN 1.2. LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 1.3. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SAS AND UTMN 1.4. SAS BUILDING 1.4.1. ROOMS / BREAK-OUTS 1.4.2. 1ST FLOOR 1.4.3. 2ND, 3RD, AND 4TH FLOORS 1.4.4. 5TH FLOOR 1.4.5. WHAT IS PROHIBITED (DON’TS) 1.5. DORMITORY 1.6. OTHER PLACES YOU WILL NEED 1.6.1. EDUCATION 1.6.2. EATING / HANGING OUT 1.6.3. ENTERTAINMENT 2. PART TWO: STUDYING AT SAS 2.1. LEARNING NEVER ENDS (BUT THE ACADEMIC YEAR DOES) 2.2. COURSES 2.3. YOUR EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY 2.3.1. 1ST YEAR 2.3.2. 2ND YEAR 2.3.3. 3RD AND 4TH YEARS 2.3.4. MAJORS 2.3.3. MINORS 2.3.4. RESEARCH PROJECTS 2.3.5. INTERNSHIPS 2.4. EDUCATIONAL PROCESS 2.4.1. SYLLABI 2.4.2. COURSE REGISTRATION/ELECTIVES 2.4.3. MODEUS 2.4.4. COURSE EVALUATIONS 2.4.5. GRADING 2.4.6. EXAM & APPEALS 2.4.7. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY 2.5. RATING & SCHOLARSHIPS 2.6. LANGUAGE MATTERS Table of Сontents 2.7. HOLIDAYS & SAS PARTIES 3.PART THREE: SAS AS A COMMUNITY 3.1. RULES OF COMMUNICATION 3.2. PEOPLE OF SAS 3.2.1. ADMINISTRATION AND STAFF 3.2.2. FACULTY 3.2.3. STUDENTS 3.3. STUDENTS’ SUPPORT SERVICES 3.3.1. FACULTY LIAISON WITH THE STUDENT BODY 3.3.2. ETHICS OFFICER 3.3.3. PROFESSOR IN THE BOX 3.3.4. ACADEMIC WRITING CENTER 3.3.5. TEACHING COUNCIL 3.3.6. PSYCHOLOGISTS 3.3.7. GAP YEAR 3.4. STUDENTS’ CLUBS 3.4.1. PHOTO CLUB 3.4.2. ENGLISH SPEAKING CLUB 3.4.3. BOARD GAMES CLUB 3.4.4. $A$ FINANCIAL CLUB 3.4.5. PHILOSOPHY CLUB 3.5. STUDENTS’ PROJECTS 3.5.1. ZOO-VOLUNTEERING 3.5.2. ECO-PROJECTS 3.6. DISCORD 4. PART FOUR: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES 4.1.1. EXCHANGE OPPORTUNITIES 4.1.2. “I AM AN EXCHANGE STUDENT, AND I STILL HAVE QUESTIONS…” 5. ADDITION 5.1. “WHAT IS IT THAT FUTURE SAS STUDENTS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SAS?” 5.2. “SAS DICTIONARY” 5.3. SAS ONLINE 5.4. MAJOR GUIDES 5.4.1. CULTURAL STUDIES 5.4.2. ECONOMICS Table of Сontents 5.4.3. FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES 5.4.4. HISTORY 5.4.5. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL SOCIETY 5.4.6. LIFE SCIENCES 5.4.7. SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY Introduction This handbook that you are holding right now has been specifically designed for SAS students or people who are generally interested in our school. It is meant to answer all of your questions that you might have about study-related matters, our parties, or our community. Well, most questions. SAS opened in 2017, so the Student Handbook represents something that all of us were longing for three years. You are very lucky to have a book full of the answers and advice from our wise and thoughtful students and the administration! Our names are Karina, Mariam, Valerie, and Vasiliy. We are the primary authors of the handbook. We have tried our best to come up with useful information related to the SAS/Tyumen life. The main principle for us was to give you something that would have drastically helped us when we thought about applying to SAS and, subsequently, got in. We always kept in mind the versions of ourselves from 2-3 years ago, when we knew nothing and were very anxious about the uncertainty of the whole process. Bear in mind that it is okay to feel that way. This is just another opportunity for us to help you reduce stress and panic. The Student Handbook is divided into five parts. The 1st part is introducing you to everything from the initial design of SAS to fabulous and fun places you can explore in Tyumen. It refers to SAS as an institution and a building. The 2nd part covers everything you need to know about the curriculum, the study process, and your educational journey here at SAS. Our School has built a strong community as well. That is why we think it is essential to introduce you to our clubs, services, and projects in the 3rd part. The 4th part is dedicated to international perspectives. If you are an exchange student or at least want to be one, this section is for you! The 5th part gives you something that you are not going to learn from official websites or the administration - this is a section where we collected some of the best advice and experiences from students. Of course, no matter how much information about SAS is shared, there are still always going to be some questions left. So, the last part of the handbook includes some advice from students and additional information about the majors. 1 / 180 Introduction On behalf of the team, we would like to thank all those who participated in the creation of this handbook. You have once again proved that SAS is a family where everyone can count on help and support. We appreciate this. Thank you! Special thanks go to: Students: 2nd-year: Dmitry Pakhomov, Polina Zhukova, and Tursunayym Badyshova. 3rd-year: Ahmed Elghandour, Alexander Dolgushin, Artyom Bologov, Asya Budagyan, Daria Grin, Darya Lupenko, Darya Makarova, Ekaterina Drozdova, Leonid Kharlov, Nikita Mogilnikov, Yaroslavla Streltsova, and Yuliya Khabibulina. 4th-year: Alina Zalyaletdinova, Anastasia Dier, Anastasia Nagornova, Daria Zykova, Ekaterina Fedorova, Elizaveta Krylova, Pavel Shlegel, Roman Starikov, Valeria Orlova, Vladimir Kibukevich, Vladislav Siyutkin, and Yana Trofimova. Professors: Erika Wolf, Giacomo Andreoletti, and Melina Aarnikoivu. Administration & Staff: Andrey Shcherbenok, Anastasia Rusakova, Ekaterina Selikhovkina, Daniel Kontowski, Alyona Bunkova, Darya Domracheva, Irina Telipko, Ludmila Malygina, Marat Agliulin, Shakhlo Makhmudova, Svetlana Kushnikova, and Valeria Savina. We would also like to thank all of those who have participated in our anonymous polls! 2 / 180 PART ONE: Finding Your Way Let us take you on a journey where you are about to find out everything from head to toe about our institution and its exciting life. Hold on, cause it is going to be an emotional rollercoaster! 3 / 180 The Initial Design The School of Advanced Studies is a new and rapidly growing institution at the University of Tyumen. This is what our director Andrey Shcherbenok has to say about the initial design of SAS: “When we designed the SAS BA curriculum, we aimed to create a school that would have valuable things that many universities lack. They include: - Professors who have studied and taught in best universities across the world, rather than professors who spent all their lives in one place. We wanted to expose our students to different people from different countries who nevertheless all participate in the global academic community. - Freedom to take a significant number of courses (=electives) based on one’s individual interests and aspirations, as well as the freedom to reinvent oneself by choosing the major after the 2nd year. - The core curriculum that gives all students the breadth of knowledge and skills instead of limiting them to one narrow discipline. - Academic integrity and meritocracy, as we wanted to create a program where students are rewarded for their hard work, intellectual capacities, and creativity, not for their ability to cheat and cut corners. - High demands that stand in contrast to the prevailing laid-back attitude in many universities where studying does not require much effort and does not give many benefits, either. All these valuable things are instruments that we believe are essential to graduate people who are more knowledgeable, smarter, more creative, and capable of doing greater things in their lives than their peers who were not exposed to the SAS BA curriculum. We have not yet found a magic formula that would guarantee that all SAS students become like that, but we definitely make it possible for those who come to SAS with a strong desire to get the most of our educational offering.” 4 / 180 Liberal Arts and Sciences The strategic goal of SAS is to contribute to the global debate on the most critical problems in the area of social sciences and humanities, life sciences and IT, and to provide a unique, high-quality education for the best prepared, most talented, and most highly motivated students from Russia and abroad. This is how our Head of Education, Daniel Kontowski, elaborates on the academic side of SAS: “SAS is a liberal arts and sciences institution, which generally means that we value connections between academic disciplines and encourage late specialization. SAS curriculum consists of core courses, major courses, and electives as well as research projects and various types of internships. Years 1 and 2 allow students to master a broad, common base for learning in the core as well as experience a broad range of elective courses before they officially declare their major. Now, I would like to offer you a few dos and don’ts that will help you feel the general difference between a ‘regular’ university and SAS. Do: leave your comfort zone and be ready Do: get the most of other students that to change your mind. Some students enter make SAS intensive and diverse educational SAS with a strong idea of what they want space. SAS is a small community where to study; others are at a complete loss students from various educational tracks about their future; most are somewhere and years do not just share a building but between the two. Studying at SAS will take classes together. All SAS students give you a rare chance to question your take the same core courses in years previous ideas about who you are and 1, 2, and 4, which gives them a shared what you want to do.