Who Is An International Ambassador Of HSE?
Scrolling between all the opportunities offered by HSE Spb, I came across the call for international ambassadors.
The name itself and the description of this role itself makes it seem really interesting, this is a role available each year for international students, as stated in the announcement of the HSE site the International Ambassador has a great number of benefits offered from university, between them we have:
- Free professional training and workshops on marketing, development of presentation skills, leadership skills, etc.;
- Opportunity to get extra credits for participation in the project;
- Reference letters from the International Office for work or study on request.
They seem really interesting advantages, but what about the duties of an International Ambassador? In this article we will interview Indiana Lokotar, a second-year international student from Belgium currently studying in the Faculty of Political Science and World Politics. She has been elected as one of the new International Ambassador for 2021, thanks to this interview, we will understand what led her to apply, and what were her expectations and what are her duties.
I do remember exactly the moment when I got to know about it, one day in November, I have seen some news about it on Facebook and I received an email; I was so excited, I wanted to apply so much! Why? Because I have a friend that has been an International Ambassador before and I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity and that it would be a pretty cool experience. I asked my friend about his experience and he assured me that it was worth it, I got some more information, finally I applied and I got selected! Pretty cool, right?
To apply, you need a recommendation letter from the supervisor of your course or from the international office, your CV and a short video in which you present yourself and motivate your choice. However, to apply you have some conditions, you need to be an International student and to have studied already at least one year at HSE before. In general there are not many requirements so it is not too difficult to apply, any international student can apply at a certain point in their studies at HSE! I really suggest you to apply if you are motivated in promoting the life of an international student in HSE!
Right after I have been chosen, I receive an email telling me that I got chosen! I was so happy!!! And then I have been invited to the first meeting with the other International Ambassadors and with the organizers of this project. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, we had a Zoom call. However as I understood, normally there is a pretty cool welcoming ceremony in our university to celebrate the new generations of international ambassadors. During the meeting, we got to know each other better, we spoke about the project, our ideas and the duties requirements for this role. And from now on, I usually receive email and notifications for events which I can attend and help (we also have a WhatsApp group chat to facilitate communication).
As an International Ambassador, I will attend events organized by HSE on a variety of interesting themes, like for instance : women empowerment, diversity of culture, mindfulness, and so on and so forth. I will share my experience and my ideas for improving the communication between our beautiful university and the international students. In addition, my role is to talk and to help international students who want to apply or have already applied to HSE. And to communicate with the international students already on the campus. I find it super interesting to do and super motivating to get to share the advantages of studying in HSE.
I expect to get to know more about university, get involved in some interesting initiatives and to somehow contribute to the development of HSE. I hope that I will get to know interesting people and to share with each other our university experiences. And finally, if I can be honest, I hope to have the opportunity to have some visibility too. I think it is an experience that can open my horizons. However, what I expect the most from this position, is to be satisfied and happy with what I will manage to do for our university and for the other students. I think I will have many amazing opportunities and I will do my best to offer the best that I have and to gain the most of what I can have from this beautiful experience. I cannot wait to start something new!
During this small interview, I have given you a small overview on this project and role. Every year the deadline for the application is in December, do not hesitate to apply if you are motivated to help and share!
If you have any further question, you can contact the International Student Support at internationaloffice@hse.ru
I thank Indiana Lokotar for her help!
Source: https://spb.hse.ru/en/announcements/418245261.html
Text by
Alessandro Boni