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Graduates’ comments on how their education and qualifications contributed to their career development

ARAZ MAMEDOV
Graduate of the Faculty of Political Science, 1997
After completing my studies at the School, I successfully applied for a place at Kingston University (UK), where I took a course on international management. I returned to Azerbaijan and started teaching at national and private universities. Then I continued doing research and teaching at the University of Mississippi (USA). Since 1999, I have been living in Baku and managing my own company “Flexible Solutions”. Our company has offices in the UK and the USA, and not long ago we opened a Moscow office. I am also an adviser to the UN European Economic Council (Geneva) and the World Bank on of information technologies for development.

ALEXEI KOSHELEV
Graduate of the Law faculty, 1997
To a great extent, thanks to the School and the LLM diploma, I had the chance to co-operate successfully with such companies as “Vneshyurcollegiya” (“International Juridical Board”), “Alfa-Group”, “Industrial Metallurgical Holding”, “Sotseconombank” (“Social Economic Bank”), the “International Industrial Bank” and others. Currently, I am working as an adviser to the Administration of the Western Administrative District.

DIMITRI PESKOV
Graduate of the Faculty of Political Science, 1999
I joined the Moscow School as the winner of the competition “New Thinking-1998”, knowing almost nothing about it. I did not even know in what faculty I would study. The Faculty of Political Science, where I found myself, surprised me, first of all, by the quality and the very style of teaching. The brilliant lectures, amazing tutorials and work in small groups were drastically different from the “soviet” education prevailing in Russian universities at the time.

There is another aspect to the life of the School, which sometimes is not noticed, though it deserves special mention: it is the management of the School. Running the teaching process, implementing the staff policy, developing Russian and international ties – all these tasks were brilliantly carried out by the School management headed by Teodor Shanin and Yelena Soboleva. I would like to recommend to the future students of the School to observe this experience closer – it may turn out to be very useful in your future career. At present I am working as Assistant Pro-Rector in charge of research work and the Head of the Centre of Internet-policy at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations MFA of Russia.

SERGEI BOIKO
Graduate of the Faculty of Political Science, 1999
Studying at the Faculty gave me a new qualification: that of a political consultant, researcher and lecturer in political sciences. It was thanks to my studies at the MSSES that I acquired the necessary skills that influenced my further career. The School gave me real friends; just giving their names would take up too much space. On June 28, 2005 I successfully defended my dissertation on the subject “The political capital of the Russian corporation and its impact on the regional political process: The Kama Basin”.

DIMITRI CHIZHOV
Graduate of the Faculty of Political Science, 2002
I have always been interested in politics, though not as an expert, but as an active participant of the political process – as the head of regional public political associations and as a civil servant in charge of youth policy in a district centre. The Moscow School gave me the opportunity to prove myself as a practicing analyst and political manager. The Faculty of Political Science became for me a channel of vertical mobility and allowed to find my place in the professional community of political consultants. Without the political education I received at Moscow School, it would have been more of a challenge. My subsequent study placement at the University of Manchester undoubtedly gave me additional experience.

The education in political science at the interfaces between the Western and Russian approaches, which one can receive at Moscow School, is a windfall for those who are thinking about working in political consulting. Rubbing shoulders in the professional community of political strategists, I have come to the conclusion that the Faculty of Political Science of Moscow School is one of the best in the education market for political science, and the Faculty graduates are among the most up to date and “advanced” specialists.

The opportunity to develop an academic career which is provided by Moscow School deserves special mention. Here they nurture and develop the academic style of thinking and the culture of undertaking research activities. After acquiring experience in writing essays, any other post-graduate course will seem mediocre. My essays and Master’s dissertation formed a high-quality basis for my work on writing a candidate’s dissertation, which, I hope, I will finish in the near future.

Professionally, I am now engaged in political consulting – I am working as the head of the department of political analysis at the Office of Political Consulting of the “Publicity” Holding Company. I specialise in consulting for political parties, development of conceptions and providing information and analytical data for election campaigns. Amongst my colleagues there are several graduates of the Faculty of Political Science of MSSES.

MARGARITA SUKHANOVA
Graduate of the Faculty of Political Science, 2002
I entered the Moscow School’s Faculty of Political Science in 2001. By that time I had worked for 7 years at the Institute of Sociology, doing interviews, and thinking that it would be nice to do some learning, get a diploma in my profession, mastered through practice… At 40, I managed to master English from the starter level to the level of reading long professional texts. I took most of my courses in the Faculties of Political Science and Sociology. The main wealth of the School is the variety of opinions and viewpoints.

My goal was to go to work with a political party, having acquired professional knowledge; I can say that the goal has been achieved. I work in the administration of the “Yabloko” party and continue doing my research work. I hope to summarise the data I collected for a research degree Candidate’s dissertation – I have taken up the opportunity offered by our Faculty graduates to take a research degree at the Institute of Philosophy, RAS.

MARINA CHEREDNICHENKO
Graduate of the Faculty of Cultural Management, 2003
I am working at the Ministry of Culture of the Moscow region as Head of the Department of New Technologies in the cultural sector, with a wide range of powers. The degree of Manchester University does not have much formal significance for the civil service, but the Russian Diploma of Professional Retraining I received with it helped by providing formal grounds for my appointment to the post in the absence of a civil service record.

ILONA SALIY
Graduate of the Faculty of Law, 2003
I am working as a legal adviser at the Rector’s Office of the Academy of National Economy under the RF Government. Before that, I worked in a similar capacity position at a small construction company. So, if we compare the size of the organisations, we will see that the qualifications received at the School really helped. One of the major projects in my life today is to defend the Candidate’s dissertation. I would put first not the qualification I received at the School, but the knowledge.

ANNA LYUBINSKAYA
Graduate of the Faculty of Counselling, 2003
In 2002 I graduated from the M. Tunk Byelorussia State Pedagogical University and received the qualification “practical psychology and foreign languages”. I joined the Faculty of Counselling on the individual and family counselling specialism. And I successfully finished the course in 2003. Professionally, my studies at the School enabled me to synthesize the knowledge received at the university, and to try out practical work. Now I am working in the Byelorussian public organization “Positive Movement”, engaged in various projects connected with the prevention of HIV/AIDS. I am the manager of the project “The National information campaign ‘Choose yourself – act yourself!’” within the World campaign “Women, girls and HIV/AIDS”. I also co-ordinate the work of the hot information line on issues of HIV/AIDS. And I am continuing my studies by doing a course on “Systemic family psychotherapy” and am planning further professional work in this area.

OLGA MAXIMOVA
Graduate of the Faculty of Law, 2004
I am working in Moscow in an investment company as head of the legal department. Most of my work is connected with providing legal support for the work of the company as a professional player in the stock market. As a legal expert, I am participating in developing the Law on introducing amendments into the Federal Law “On the Stock Market” (asset management) and the project of developing a federal law “On Derivative Financial Instruments”.

The Master of Laws degree undoubtedly promoted my career growth. First, an employer finds it important when he finds in a CV of that a Master’s degree programme at the MSSES has been completed. Second, in my work I heavily rely on the knowledge developed in the course of studies at the School.

NATALIA BOKKAR
Graduate of the Faculty of Counselling, 2004
Before entering the School, I taught at a University and soon realised that I lacked knowledge in counselling, so I went to study. Now I am working for the Russian Branch of the UK charity “Charities Aid Foundation” as a programme manager.

YAKUPOVA JULIA
Graduate of the Faculty of Political Science, 2004
While at the MSSES, I started working as an assistant in one of the biggest international research companies GFK “Rus’”. After a hard year of working and studying, I moved to the position of manager of research projects at the international research agency MASMI. Now I am doing consumer studies “on the side of the client”, and working on a team of managers at the biggest food producer in the RF and CIS, the “Vimm Bill Dann” company. No doubt, the knowledge and skills I developed in the course of studies at the MSSES are very helpful in my work, especially the skill of analysing data, thinking independently and defending my point of view.

VLADISLAV TIKHOMIROV
Graduate of the Faculty of Sociology, 2005
While studying at the School, I was working for the Government of Moscow in a construction complex. My studies at the School enabled me to retain my position as a sociologist at work, to formulate my scientific interests, to develop a working goal of a higher level than just remuneration.

After graduating from the School I came to work for a network of department stores “Detsky Mir” (“Children’s World”) and now I am in charge of all operations connected with Internet marketing. However, after the School, sociology became my vocation (according to Weber), and I try to turn to my sociological thinking when planning my work projects, and sometimes I take part in research projects, deliver lectures on sociology at the Faculty of Pre-University Preparation at the Higher School of Economics.

ANNA TURCHIK
Graduate of the Faculty of Sociology, 2005
The School optimised my mind, and I know what I want and how to achieve it. While at the School, I visited Britain several times and participated in summer schools and conferences. The teachers taught me to interact with foreign colleagues-researchers, providing information about additional foreign educational programmes. When I enrolled on a research programme at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Sociology they asked me where I was from, I said I was from “Shaninka” (Shanin’s School). “Ah, then it it’s all clear! Only the best come from that School”.

VERA PETROVA
Graduate of the Faculty of Sociology, 2006
The School helped to develop the knowledge lacking at my previous University, my world outlook changed: my views on research and the process of learning as a whole. The horizon widened especially due to the excellent Library and communication in the wonderful team: with students (because they are people with similar interests, they come to the School because they really need it) and with the teachers. And my Master’s degree helped me to find a job.

ANASTASIYA ZAMYATINA
Graduate of the Faculty of Socio-Cultural Project Management, 2006
In the year after graduating from the School I met a lot of people working in the socip-cultural sector. The areas of work, of course, are different, but they all work with the community and on transformation of the environment. Even when I was still at the School, I started working for the Association of Managers of Culture (AMC); this introduced me to the work with real professionals, knowing the needs of their trade. I met the community of experts (some of them taught in our School, too; some teach at other universities). I also realised that very soon I would be able to act as an expert on various issues, my preferences are now being formed. As for the Master’s degree, I should say that many people with whom I am working now have a similar education, so we can be on a par, which unites us in our work.

IMANGALIYEVA SHYNAR SARSENBEK KYZY
Graduates of the Centre for Educational Policy Studies, Kazakhstan, Almaty, 2004
Before the course I worked as a co-ordinator at the Soros Foundation. After the course at the CEPS, I became a co-ordinator for the “Human Development Programme” – a Development Programme of the United Nations Organisation (UNDP).

After graduating from the School I was lucky to participate in a conference held recently in Harvard. The conference was really grandiose in the number of participants (over 500 people), the number of participating countries and interest-groups. I applied to give a presentation. My application was accepted and I spoke at the session "Higher Education within National and International Orders". Actually, it was not difficult for me to prepare the presentation, as most of the material had been worked through in the preparation of essays on different subjects I studied at our Centre. I think, that the very idea to take part in the conference, organised by Harvard, and my readiness to speak in front of academics, were to a great extent determined by the fact that at the Centre, for a year already, I have been studying various aspects of education, and I have an opportunity to discuss them with our professors.