'I am Interested in a Career in Academia the Most': HSE Graduate About His Admissions to China
Peking University is one of the twenty best universities in the world according to two rankings—Times Higher Education and QS. It is hard to enrol there but quite possible for the graduates of HSE University-St Petersburg. Kirill Kravtsov managed to enrol there straight away after the Bachelor's programme 'Asian and African Studies'. In the record of the graduate are four internships in Chinese universities and several articles. We talked to Kirill about his studies in China and development within HSE University.
— What did you start your preparations for a master's degree with?
— During the senior year of my bachelor's studies, I undertook four online internships in China. In the fourth year, one internship overlapped with another. I studied for a year at Fudan University, and at the same time, I spent a semester at the Shanghai International Studies University. In the fifth year, I spent six months on an internship at Wuhan University, and then, I studied business Chinese at the Dalian Polytechnic University. Of course, there were also different short-term projects.
All these programmes appeared thanks to the pandemic of COVID-19. In ordinary times, I would have to go to China and study there. It would be impossible to combine everything. But I had a chance to have a look at different universities and practice Chinese.
Along with the internships, I didn't forget about research and joined the research group 'Media and Politics of the Eastern Countries'. We had strived to publish several articles over two years—and something like this happened. By the end of the fifth year, I had two articles co-authored with Elena Soboleva: one was indexed in Web of Science, another—in Scopus. The first publication was based on the Belt and Road Initiative: how the media of China and Saudi Arabia see it. In the second one, we studied the digital diplomacy of China in African countries. I think these articles also increased my chances to enrol.
— How did you choose the university?
— I applied to a variety of universities and got accepted almost in all of them. First of all, I thought about applying for a PhD programme straight away. In some universities, it is possible right after the bachelor's degree. I was offered a place at the University of Leeds in the UK where it is possible. But there was another difficulty—scholarships. There are only two of them for the whole university. Of course, I applied but I didn't manage to win it. The priority was given to the contestants with the master's degree. The offers from other universities were related to master's degrees.
For sure, not all the universities were suitable for me with the curricula of their programmes though I was accepted there. Such was the case with the University of Iowa. I could become a teaching assistant and get a scholarship of 20,000 USD. But their programme focused on internal American politics, and not on African and Asian Studies, so it wasn't my concentration. Or I could go to the Free University of Berlin. They offered me a place in the master's programme in Oriental Research. But in that case, I would study more traditional China—its language, history and culture but I am more interested in modern times. That is why I switched to Chinese universities.
While I was choosing between Chinese universities, I looked at the duration of the master's studies. Usually, it takes three years but at some universities—two. As I wanted to start a career in academia a little earlier, I considered the second option. This is how I opted for Peking University: it is the 14th in the world according to the ranking 'Times Higher Education' and the 17th according to the QS ranking. As for the concentration, I chose media and communications. In the bachelor's degree, I had one optional course on this topic, now I'll have a chance to study this direction in more detail. It is very useful for my research.
— What advantages do you see in a university which ranks among the top twenty in the world?
— For many Chinese people, to enrol at Peking University is a lifelong dream. They take exams more than once to enrol there. Why? It gathered the best of the best from all over the world. Everyone who got accepted there graduated from really prestigious universities. It is pleasant to study in such an environment.
Of course, studying at one of the best universities helps to secure your future, including the academic one. For instance, Chinese postdoctoral programmes require that your university ranks in the top 100. They do not even consider applicants from other universities.
— What are your impressions of the studies in China?
— In our programme, everything is very home-like. We treat each other very warmly. There is no rivalry, and the professors choose a very scrupulous approach to us. They worry about us and always try to help.
Most of all, I like that we choose almost all the courses ourselves. Obviously, there are compulsory ones but choosing courses from other faculties and concentrations is a usual thing: this is how I started studying Japanese. Besides, you can become an auditing student. Such courses won't be included in your diploma but students can attend lectures and participate in discussions.
An important and unusual peculiarity of a new university is that the classes here are not very interactive. At HSE University, there is a division into lectures and seminars, their number is approximately equal. Now, I mostly have lectures, and during them, there are yet few dialogues between lecturers and students.
I won't have many exams: only two, and one of them is an elective course in Japanese. But there are quite a lot of interim assignments—mini-term papers and mini-reports. I have to write term papers for at least seven courses. The wordage is not so big of course—only five-six pages but everything should be in Chinese, and you have to approach it very thoughtfully.
— Now, you are studying fully in Chinese. Was this transition easy for you?
— I didn't face the language barrier. Obviously, some dialects are harder to understand than others but only due to the peculiarities of pronunciation. However, in the qualification exam in Chinese, I reached the sixth level. Now, it's the maximum.
— What helped you to improve and maintain the level of the language?
— First of all, classes in Chinese at HSE University. We had classes with the native speakers and our professors where we engaged in translations, and learnt news vocabulary and business Chinese. Of course, internships at Chinese universities helped me as during them I constantly communicated in Chinese.
But equally important was teaching. I was a teaching assistant in Chinese at HSE University and at the same time was a private teacher for several years. What does it give you in the end? When you deliver a class, there always appear issues which you haven't considered before. By the way, it is relevant for any level: from zero to advanced. The knowledge is being accumulated, becomes basic—and as a result, it is easier to pass exams. Finding mistakes in someone else's work is also useful. Especially, typical ones: you see them so often that you will hardly ever repeat them. But sometimes such close attention to mistakes adds some barriers in the communication with native speakers: it takes you more time to choose the wording.
— What about business Chinese? This year, you took first place in the inter-university Olympiad in this subject...
— It did happen! Though I would assess my knowledge as basic.
In the third year, I had a course called 'Business Listening'. There, we analysed texts related to trade, exhibitions, conferences, etc. During the internships in China, I also had a lot of courses in finance, investments and law for international companies. Based on it, I can negotiate about the prices or, for instance, logistics quite well.
But there are spheres which require specific vocabulary: you won't talk about screw guns out of the blue. In other cases, you have to deeply immerse yourself in the context to offer a contractor the best circumstances, and sheer language is not enough. Perhaps, I'll be able to change it in the second master's year—it is devoted to practice.
— As we started talking about the future, could you tell us about your goals for the master's studies?
— I am interested in a career in academia the most. Further, I will enrol in a PhD programme, and after that, I might become a postdoctoral fellow. Of course, it will be easier for me to take some steps in this direction at one of the best Chinese universities. I will meet professors, find out which university studies digital diplomacy and only then choose. Maybe, I'll change the research focus and consider not only China but Japan as well. I didn't start studying a new language in vain! Perhaps, I'll go to Japan one day... But it's too early to get so far ahead. The first step would be mastering new courses which I have plenty of and turning my thesis into an article for a journal. And then, we can only wait and see.