Exchange programs

1. 1. Ask the International office of your Home University to nominate you by using nomination form sent to suhova_ea@spbstu. ru
   2. Get the link and fill in online application form.

2. Necessary documents:

   • Copy of your foreign passport (not equal to your internal ID) in JPEG;
   • Transcript or records in English/Russian in PDF;
   • Motivation letter in English/Russian in PDF;
   • Photo in JPG format (3×4 cm, taken in front of a plain white or off-white background, in full-face view directly facing the camera, with a neutral facial expression (preferred) and with both eyes open; not selfie, not photo taken in the bathroom, not in front of touristic places and monuments, without hats and scarves and shadows.)
     *Please, do not upload cut photo from your passport.

   Deadlines:

   Autumn semester/academic year

   • Nomination deadline: 15 May (students from visa-countries), 01 June (students from non-visa-countries — citizens of Russian Federation and CIS)
   • Application deadline: 01 July

   Spring semester

   • Nomination deadline: 15 October (students from visa-countries), 01 November (students from non-visa-countries — citizens of Russian Federation and CIS)
   • Application deadline: 01 December

   *Applications submitted after deadline would not be considered.

3. Check the preliminary list of the courses and/or contact your future study coordinators to discuss study details (pfb at «Possible study areas»).
4. Get the Letter of acceptance. Please not that it is not equal to visa invitation.
5. Get your visa invitation and apply for the student visa.
6. Apply for the dormitory
7. Fill in Arrival form to have an opportunity to get a tutor

Following the academic calendar is compulsory for all exchange students. If you arrive 10 or more days later semester’s start and/or leave 10 or more days earlier the end of your study period, we do not guarantee you full stated number of credits in the final transcript of records. Your late arrival and/or early departure must be confirmed by your sending university in advance.

All dates below are preliminary and are about to confirm before each study year.

Autumn semester (01 September — 31 January)

• Arrival dates: 30 August— 01 September
• Orientation period: 02 September — 08 September
• Lecture period: 09 September — 29 December
• Examination period: 30 December— 31 January

*Please pay attention that we have no days off in Russia dedicated to Catholic Christmas celebration.

Spring semester (01 February — 30 June)

• Arrival dates: 31 January — 01 February
• Orientation period: 02 February — 09 February
• Lecture period: 10 February — 07 June
• Examination period: 08 June — 30 June

*Please pay attention that we have no days off in Russia dedicated to Catholic Easter celebration.

Public holidays in Russian Federation

For information on the subjects available to exchange students, please have a look at the preliminary list of courses) or contact the coordinator of the institute (faculty) you are interested in.

Please note that list of courses is preliminary and final course selection would be done on the meeting with study coordinator from each institute upon student’s arrival.

All exchange students are encouraged to take a voluntary course in Russian as a foreign language (any level, maximum 5 credits). Upon arrival, you will be divided into groups depending on the level of Russian language proficiency based on the placement test results.

Visa

If you plan to go the SPbPU for studies, you should apply for a Student visa to Russia.

For that, you need to:

1. Get an official visa invitation from Federal Migration Service. To make these invitations, SPbPU applies to Federal Migration Service. It takes about 1-1.5 months for the invitation to be prepared. When the invitation is ready, the SPbPU sends the PDF-copy of it to student’s e-mail address or the original paper to University post address (depends on the type of invitation issued).
2. Check the study visa requirements at the Russian consulate/embassy in your country of residence.
3. Apply for student visa at the Russian consulate/Embassy.

Please pay attention, that invitation is always done for one time entrance visa for 90 days only. It would be prolonged and changed to a multi visa after student’s arrival at SPbPU.

Migration rules

Upon entry to Russia you may be asked to fill out a migration card, which is usually distributed to passengers on incoming flights and available at arrival points in Russia. Sometimes migration control (passport control) officers fill these cards out for you.

The migration card and passport with visa are handed over to a migration control officer for checking and further endorsement. The migration official takes section A and section В is given back to you. The stamp date is considered the first day of your stay in Russia. Make sure that it is legible. A new migration card must be filled out each time you enter Russia (cross the border).

A migration card must be carefully kept throughout the duration of your stay in Russia and is given back to the custom officer at the airport by departure.

Registration

Each student must be registered at the place of residence (in the dormitory / at the address of residence) within 7 working days after entering Russia.

Please note that starting from summer 2019, students renting apartments/rooms must register themselves with the help of landlords. We advise you to discuss this issue with the landlord in advance, as there are more cases of owners refusing to register students.

Students staying at the dormitory would be put on the registration register during the orientation period.

You must re-register yourself at the passport and visa department if:

• You lived in a hotel in St. Petersburg;
• You lived in a hotel in another city in Russia;
• You have returned from a foreign trip;
• You were in the hospital.

Russian citizens do not need to re-register.

Visa prolongation

After arriving and registering at SPbPU, you would be able to apply for a student visa prolongation. This procedure takes approximately 6 weeks, therefore it is not possible to obtain an extended student visa until the end of the validity period of a valid single entry student visa. Thus, for the period of validity of a 90-day student visa, you will not be able to travel abroad. At the time of application for a student visa prolongation, a student visa prolongation fee will be charged. Extended student visa — a student visa with multiple entry — is valid until the end of your period of study at SPbPU.

Required documents for extending a student visa:

• 2 сopies of all pages of the foreign passport
• Copy of migration card
• 2 photos 3×4 cm
• Registration
• Visa prolongation fee payment receipt

Information about date, time, place and whole procedure for visa prolongation will be sent to you by e-mail.

Insurance

In order to apply for a Russian student visa, students need to purchase health insurance in their home country. Please note that not all Russian medical institutions work with foreign health insurance. List of policlinics working with international insurance would be given upon students’ arrival. Aliquam eu varius justo.

Dormitory

Количество мест в студенческом общежитии ограничено. Информация о стоимости и количестве мест будет доступна ближе к началу учебного семестра.

В случае наличия мест в общежитии, всю информацию об адресе, стоимости и возможных датах заезда Вы получите незадолго до начала семестра.

SPbPU will make every effort to help exchange students to find suitable and affordable accommodation in a university dormitory. The exchange students are responsible for covering their housing, nutrition, travelling and other expenses.

Information about the exact dormitory, rates and equipment will be sent to the students before arrival.

All dormitory residents are obliged to follow dormitory rules. In case of non-compliance with the rules, the student gets reprimand. Three reprimands lead to expulsion.

Renting a flat

If you are not interested to be a dormitory resident, you have to find housing independently. This process could take more time in the end of August —beginning of September due to the beginning of study year.

Please note that starting from summer 2019, students renting apartments/rooms must register themselves with the help of landlords. We advise you to discuss this issue with the landlord in advance, as there are more cases of owners refusing to register students.

After the end of exchange period, you will get official Transcript of records containing attended courses, grades and amount of ECTS.

• 1 ECTS = 36 academic hours
• 1 academic hour = 45 minutes

SPbPU has no special requirements for number of courses or amount of ECTS chosen by any particular student. Students’ choice has to be done on the base of Home University requirements.

Transcript of records is prepared only after the official end of the semester according to the academic calendar.

Starting from now on, SPbPU will no longer send out the original Transcript of Records for students by standard mail. Instead, the official Transcript of Records will be uploaded to the cloud service as a pdf available to download or sent via email directly to our contacts in the International Office.

This measure is based on sustainability concerns. Likewise, we also hope to speed up the process, as the documents sometimes got lost in the mail or simply took too long.

Each semester DIAM with the help of tutors organizes an orientation period for new exchange students. All Orientation Week activities are mandatory. A detailed timetable will be emailed to students before arrival.

Orientation week activities:

• The orientation meeting is the main meeting with all students. At the meeting, the most important issues are discussed (training, accommodation, registration, migration rules, visa extension, etc.)
• Study coordinator meetings — discussion of curriculum and timetable with the future study coordinators.
• Entertaining and educational activities.

Campus

You can have a look on the map of the campus

Libraries

The addresses and opening hours of the libraries can be found на here. You can use the services of the information and library complex after enrollment (i. e. 2-3 weeks after arrival).

Access to the library could be done using the barcode of your student entrance card

Transportation

If you are planning to make a small amount of trips, you can use the «Podorozhnik» electronic card for all types of transport, which can be bought in the lobby of any metro station.

If you plan to make a significant number of trips, you would be able to obtain a student transport card, which you can get approximately one month after the official enrollment (i. e. from October or March).

Saint Petersburg metro map