EXPERIENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL PROJECT CROSS-BORDER UNIVERSITY IMPLEMENTATION AT THE FACULTY OF FOREST ENGINEERING OF PETROZAVODSK STATE UNIVERSITY

Russia joined to Bologna process for developing joint European educational area at 2007. Integration of Russia into the international educational area entails many difficulties, associated with the change in the structure of education and the need for the development of academic mobility. At this stage, international educational projects are expected to be of significant help. One of them is the Finnish-Russian Cross-Border University (CBU) offering a 2-year Master’s Degree programme in accordance with the European Higher Education System. The CBU is a university consortium of highly recognized universities in Russia and Finland.

The adaptation of the educational system to the European Higher Education Area represents a significant challenge to the Forest Engineering Faculty of the Petrozavodsk State University. Higher education in the Russian forest cluster has both similarities with the European forestry education and its distinctive features:

- Low mobility of both students and teaching staff within the country and abroad negatively affects the updating of training materials.
- Poor command of the English language is a barrier for students wishing to continue their studies abroad.
- The lack of regular courses in English in most Russian universities does not allow foreign students to be admitted to the university.
- Classical structure of education in Russia differs from the modular structure of training in most European countries.

Seven years of experience in applying the CBU Master's Degree programme in Forestry at the Faculty allows us to analyze the results of the project implementation at the faculty:

- Cross-border universities are an effective tool for enhancing educational and scientific relations between partner universities.
- A collaborative teaching network is an opportunity for increasing the mobility of students and teachers.
- Graduates get special skills for succeeding in the international working environment, especially problem-solving and decision-making abilities in a multicultural context.
- Students are motivated to learn English and teacher staff is motivated to develop their courses in English.

Next stage of the project is to develop double degree agreement between partner universities.