12 Master’s students of North-Eastern Federal University took part in a seven-day series of onsite selection of the 2018-2019 Vladimir Potanin Fellowship Program. The winners of the student competition will be announced no later than 25 February.

According to Aleksandra Ivanova, the senior lecturer of the Department of Oriental Languages ​​and Country Studies at NEFU Institute of Foreign Philology and Regional Studies, the onsite round of the competition for the personal fellowship of Vladimir Potanin was organized from 28 January to 9 February. “The contest took place in seven Russian cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Tyumen, Tomsk and Vladivostok. Traditionally, MGIMO became the only university to host the onsite round in Moscow, while the university hosted the highest number of participants of the onsite rounds — over seven days, more than 850 students from 39 universities attended the university. On February 6, on the final day of the Moscow qualifiers, a historical record for the number of participants was set - 150 contestants in one day”, said Aleksandra Ivanova.

3,324 students from 75 Russian universities were approved to participate in this fellowship competition. In total, over 6,200 people showed interest in the program. 1,998 participants, including 12 NEFU Master’s students were approved for the second round: IFPRS students Semyon Androsov, Diana Borisova, Aleksandra Ivanova, Anna Mazhulina, Varvara Parilova, Aleksandra Ponomareva, IFE students Tatyana Adamova, Natalia Vinokurova, Aleksandr Elyakov, a student of PI Emilia Maksimova, a student of HF Ekaterina Divdevilova and a student of FF Adelya Sizykh.

Selection was carried out in the form of business games and case presentations. “The participants demonstrated creativity, erudition, ability to negotiate with each other, work in a team, process information and think critically, as well as presentation skills - all that characterizes a modern leader. All tasks were performed in groups during one full working day. There will be 500 winners. The winners will be awarded with a monthly scholarship of 20,000 rubles, effective from February and until the end of their Master’s studies”, concluded Aleksandra Ivanova.