Study shows which universities lead the way in promotion of summer schools
The study conducted by RUDN University shows that SPbPU, LETI, RUDN University, and HSE are leaders among Russian universities by the number of international attendees enrolled in programs of summer and winter schools and by completeness of website content related to study areas.
According to the experts, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University (LETI) offers nine English-taught programs, five Russian-taught programs, Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) offers 34 summer schools and 16 winter schools with English-taught programs only, Higher School of Economics (HSE) has 12 English-taught programs, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) has 18 study areas with Russian-taught and English-taught programs.
Besides, it is emphasized that universities have multi-language websites (LETI and Kazan Federal University - eight languages, RUDN University and SPbPU - three languages). The university pages also contain the information on contact persons, the cost of courses, provide an opportunity to register and present an extensive cultural and recreational program. Almost all websites of the universities participating in the study have an understandable, convenient and user-friendly interface.
The study shows that the websites of Ural Federal University, ITMO University, Tyumen State University are the most successful websites from the perspective of attraction of foreigners' attention to their educational projects. The information on summer and winter schools can be tracked on the website of Omsk State University.
Besides, the experts analyzed the all-Russian children's centers in the recreation camps that have many years' experience in working with children from foreign countries - Smena, Orlenok, Ocean, and Artek. Their pages present high-quality content, and website formats are friendly for foreign users, as there is information on international sessions and training programs in English, all websites are colorful and have simple navigation. Potential participants of international sessions have an opportunity to register online on the website to choose any program.
Also, in contrast to most websites, the websites of children's centers contain the information on the session, a lot of photos and video recordings, testimonials from participants.
The analysis of Russian universities' websites with regards to mechanisms of promotion of summer and winter schools involved 40 organizations (including 21 universities participating in Project 5-100) as well as four educational (children's) centers that hold summer schools for children in summer recreation camps that have many years' successful experience in working with children from foreign countries.
The university group included the institutions that have summer and winter school programs that are competitive and in great demand on the educational market, show strong performance in international rankings, have experience in recruiting international students, state-of-the-art facilities and resources, as well as institutions that have an opportunity to diversify educational services taking into account the market needs.