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The Bologna Meets Lisbon programme is launching this academic year, enabling CE exchange students to opt for a part-time study related internship. The programme is aimed at providing exchange students with a useful network of professional contacts that will later enhance their employability while providing for the cultural, linguistic and social immersion that often is lacking in student exchanges.

During the next months we will interview some of the students which are pioneering the programme as well as their mentor companies/organizations. We are opening this cycle of interviews with a short talk with Olesya Ryabykh, a student at the University of Hamburg who is also the first CE mover visiting the Finnish University of Joensuu.

Campus Europae: Can you describe to us what your internship consists of and tell us a few words about the mentor company?

Olesya Ryabykh: Since I speak Russian, German and English and also have finished my studies in education in Russia, I am responsible for establishing international contacts with Russia, the Baltic countries, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark in the context of the SciFest 2009 (http://www.scifest.fi/). My internship takes place at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Joensuu under the mentorship of Prof. Erkki Sutinen who is the SciFest main promoter and with whom I’m thrilled to work with.

How is it to work in a different country from a language viewpoint?
The language I speak at work is English. It is normal for me, since I have been living in Germany for 4 years and my mother tongue is Russian.

Picture 1: CE Mover Olesya Ryabykh

And what about conciliating the university workload with your projects at the mentor company?
It is not so easy, since I really have to do much work for the University and I’m committed to reach 60 ECTS points during this year but I’m trying to manage everything.
 
What do you expect the outcomes of your internship to be, both for you, your studies and the mentor company?
I am really glad that I can work for the SciFest project. I get to know new people, establish new contacts both for me and the project I am working on, use the languages which I can speak and it also has a lot to do with children - this last aspect is also important for me because I am going to be a primary school teacher. I hope I can help the project so that more people know about it and come to Joensuu to take part in it.