Elena Korchagina and Pavel Shilo, Lecturers of the HSE Faculty of Management, Participated in International Teaching Week

Elena Korchagina, professor at the Department of Management, and Pavel Shilo, Associate Professor at the Department of Management, have participated in International Teaching Week organized by the University of Pécs (Hungary) Faculty of Business and Economics.

— How did you come to participate in this event?

— The University of Pécs is partner of the HSE campus in St. Petersburg, and we were invited to participate in International Teaching Week directly by the university. The topic and the programme seemed very interesting, and so we decided to apply.

— What events did the International Teaching Week include?

— International Teaching Week mainly consisted of two types of events. First, there were roundtable and plenary sessions with lecturers, students and other guests, including representatives of partner universities, non-profit organizations, and businesses. The topics of the plenary sessions and roundtable discussions were related to the problems of creating entrepreneurial competencies during study at university and the challenges facing educational institutions today.

Second, there were guest lectures as part of regular courses. Elena read a lecture on Environmental Ethics as part of the course on Business Ethics, which is led by Professor Marta Somogyvari, and Pavel read a lecture on Leadership and Strategic Management as part of a course on Leadership and Management of International Business, which is led by Prof. Vitai Zsuzsanna. 

— What was your impression about the university?

— The university impressed us; the Faculty of Business and Economics is situated in a beautiful old building. It’s interesting that it was the city of Pécs where the first university in Hungary was founded in 1367. The modern university is not a direct successor of the old university, but the influence of history and tradition can be felt there. Today the university includes over 25,000 students and about 2,000 teachers, while the population of Pécs is about 160,000 people. The university is also the largest non-industrial employer in the city.

— How does a university benefit from organizing such an event?

— We think that the benefits are considerable and are undoubtedly worth the costs of time, effort and money. First, the university gets an opportunity to evaluate guest lecturers to possibly later invite some of them to work at their institution. It seems perferable to select lecturers on the basis of such events rather than to invite them as a result of recommendations. Second, exchanging experiences of how to conduct classes, introduction to methods and style of reading lectures and seminar organizations are also valuable. In this case everyone benefits, both the hosts and the guests. Third, getting to know each other, discussions, and exchange of opinions are also important and valuable activities. It’s impossible to develop if you have no contact with the external world and if you have no opportunities to compare yourself with the others. That’s why we believe we should promote such events at the Higher School of Economics, especially in St. Petersburg.

— What benefits did you personally get from participating in International Teaching Week?

— We met remarkable people, participated in interesting debates and exchanged opinions, compared different approaches to teaching, and learned several original teaching methods. An important result of this event was widening our network of contacts in the academic community. It’s nice that our research and teaching skills were highly evaluated by our international colleagues, and the hosting university issued letters of appreciation for us. In addition to this, we got several offers of cooperation from universities in Canada, Finland, and Lithuania, whose representatives also participated in the event. We believe that our participation in International Teaching Week was really useful and hope that it will be a good contribution to the development of international links of the HSE campus in St. Petersburg.

Letter of appreciation from the University of Pécs to E. Korchagina

Letter of appreciation from the University of Pécs to P. Shilo