Student of MAI about Global Summer School in China

Dmitry Trunchenkov is a third year student of MAI Faculty №1 “Aircraft Engineering”. His specialization is aircraft certification and this summer he took part in Global Summer School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, partner of MAI. The program lasted from July 11 to July 26, 2018.

Dmitry, why did you decide to take part in Global Summer School at Shanghai Jiao Tong University?

I decided to take part in the Summer School because I seriously think about applying for Master’s degree program abroad. So the summer internship at Shanghai Jiao Tong University was a kind of good opportunity to get study experience abroad.Morover, the section of Global Summer School, dedicated to aeronautics and astronautics, is my field of interest.

What would you like to get from the participation in Summer school?

First of all I would like to get experience from professors of the USA, Canada and China. I also like traveling very much, so of course, I wanted to get acquainted with the culture, cuisine and traditions of China.

Who, in addition to MAI students, took part in the Global Summer School?

It is necessary to understand that the educational program of Global Summer school was not only in aerospace sphere. A lot of students came from different countries to take part in the summer school at the Medical , Engineering and many other faculties of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Together with me, at Aerospace faculty studied students from universities of Toronto and London.

It is very interesting. What was the educational program of Summer School at the Aerospace Faculty?

Well the Summer program lasted two weeks.The educational program consisted of lectures of professors from the USA, Canada and China. All lectures were devoted to modern technologies in aviation and in space industry. I still study in aviation specialty, so for me the most useful, of course, were lectures on avionics problems. The atmosphere in classes was very positive. I really liked that there were practically no distance between professors and students. In such a friendly environment, learning is much more interesting and fun. All teaching staff was highly professional, but I liked the most the professor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Lu Bei. This woman has extensive experience in Singapore and USA. To us she gave a lecture on Airplane control systems.

What did you do in your spare time?

I like traveling very much. China is my 5th country in the last year. Therefore,on weekends I tried to leave Shanghai and travel. China most impressed me with its culture, history, nature and, of course, cuisine. This is a country wh ere everything is different. Not like we have. I have a desire to return, because to see everything in 18 days is unreal. Shanghai itself is huge metropolis, which is in 3-4 times larger than Moscow. I was impressed by its diversity. I saw a very beautiful center with hundreds of restaurants, expensive hotels, boutiques and sports cars on the streets, but also much poorer districts.

These are useful remarks for everyone who would like to visit China and Shanghai. Did you manage to make friends, useful acquaintances?

Oh, sure. I met many incredible people from all over the world! I made friends with students from Canada, Great Britain, the USA, Belgium and Slovenia. We spent a lot of time together. As for the professors, then, of course, we managed to satisfy our curiosity, talked with the teachers and learned the experience from them.

How do you evaluate the experience of participation in the Global Summer School? What can such programs give to students?

The experience of participation is certainly positive. It was amazing, first of all, to get new knowledge, make friends, and just see the world. In practical terms, from the summer school, I, first of all, received a lot of ideas for reflection. I also brought home books and notes of lectures. I intend to reread them again in the near future, rethink it all again. All professors left their contacts, they promised to help if there were any questions later.

What are your plans for the future?

I tried myself in business, launched a start-up with unmanned aircraft. Unfortunately, it did not work out, but I continue to think in this direction. The Global summer school gave me a lot of ideas, I will test and try them here in Moscow. Well and still study, certainly.

What can you advise future students of summer programs? Who should participate in such kind of programs?

The school will be useful to all, who would like to connect their future with aviation and space. Knowledge is not superfluous precisely, and to look on the teaching process in other countries is very useful.