Of public administration in petrozavodsk
Ø 1) How long have you been studying at the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk? Where did you study before? Why did you decide to get higher education at the Karelian Branch?
The Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk offers training, retraining, and in-service training of civil and municipal employees, as well as seminars, consultations, information- and methodology services in the sphere of state and municipal administration. The Karelian Branch is part of the countrywide educational network of the Russian Academy of Public Administration.
The Karelian Branch was organized in Petrozavodsk in 1995 by the joint solution of the Government of the Republic of Karelia and the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Saint-Petersburg. In 2005, the Karelian Branch was included in the list of educational institutions of Russia which form the system of staff training, support and supervision of the bodies of local self-government. This system was organized by the Ministry of the Regional Development of the Russian Federation.
Administration of the Karelian Branch includes Director, First Deputy Director, Deputy Director on Finance and Economics, and Head of Scientific and Methodology Research Work Office.
The departments functioning at the Karelian Branch are: personnel department, professional skills improvement and retraining department, higher professional education department, scientific and methodology research work office, information and library center, international cooperation center, and municipal consulting center.
The Chairs of Economics and Finance, State and Municipal Administration, Law, the Humanities, and Foreign Languages operate within the Karelian Branch.
Higher professional education department conducts training according to programs of higher professional education on the following specializations: “State and Municipal Administration,” “Finance and Credit,” and “Law.”
Training on State and Municipal Administration is carried out on a full-time and part-time basis. Part-time program implies 3.5 years of training for graduates of professional colleges and 3 years of training for graduates of higher professional institutions. The diploma is granted in case of successful training.
The Department of Supplementary Education Programs offers programs of professional retraining which is a form of supplementary professional education for people who already hold a diploma of higher or secondary professional education. This form of education has been worked out by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation as a convenient, not costly and fast way to get additional higher education and master a new profession. The peculiarities mentioned above make professional retraining advantageously different from getting another higher education in a traditional way (which takes several years, costs much more and covers general knowledge subjects).
In-service courses help specialists to enhance their professional level and can be aimed at different audience: employees of state government bodies, employees of local self-government bodies, deputies of Legislation Meeting of the Republic of Karelia, deputies of representative bodies of local self-government bodies, executives of enterprises, agencies and organizations.
Subject and consultation seminars are one of the most advanced directions of the department activities. Usually, the seminars are conducted following the demand of state government bodies, local self-government bodies, enterprises and organizations. They cover the issues of accounting, taxation and labor legislation, as well as legal support of the activities of state and municipal employees and some other issues acute for the audience.
Distance learning is a new convenient form of professional retraining for state and municipal employees who enter their field.
Ø 2) Draw the scheme of the organizational hierarchy of the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk.
Ø 3) Make a list of key words to describe this higher education institution.
Ø 4) Compare the pros and cons of different training schemes provided by the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk.
Ø 5) Retell the text adding personal details to it.
LAW ACADEMY
Ø 1) Find Russian equivalents to the words and expressions in italics.
We are students at the Ukrainian Academy of Law. Our Academy is one of the oldest educational establishments of this type in the Country. Its 70th anniversary was marked in 1990. The Academy is housed in one of the best buildings of our city. This is the house in 77 Pushkinskaya Street designed and constructed by Beketov - a well-known Russian architect. It has a great number of light, spacious classrooms, lecture-halls, a gymnasium, a reading-room, and a computer lab. There are also special study rooms and laboratories here. The students have every opportunity to master their future profession which is law. Our Academy trains practical workers for law offices.
The course of study at the Academy is five years. Besides the day-time department there is also an evening and a correspondence department at the academy where the students study 5.5 years.
We study general and special law subjects. Among the general subjects are history of the political science, the history of the economics, philosophy, sociology, ecological law and a foreign language – English, German, and French. I am not confident in my English. I think it doesn’t sound well. But I am a good English learner. I always attend my English classes and work hard.
The law subjects are criminal law, criminal procedure, criminology, criminalities, civil law, civil procedure, labor law, ecological law, international law, and some others. We attend lectures, seminars, and tutorials. Classes usually begin at 8.00 in the morning and are over at 12.30 in the afternoon.
After classes many students hurry to the canteen to have lunch and after a short rest begin preparing for their lessons and seminars in the reading room or in a study room.
A very important part in the training of future specialists is played by the Students’ Scientific Society, and a lot of students carry on research work in its numerous circles. All of us also take part in the public activities of the Academy. Almost all out-of town students live in the hostel. At the end of each term we take credit tests and examinations. They are called terminals. All those who pass exams successfully are granted stipends.
At the end of the course of study the students take state examinations or finals, as they are often called. When we graduate from the academy we shall work according to our appointments as investigators, judges, procurators, etc. Some of us will work in the militia. Every year our country gets highly qualified specialists standing on guard of legality and law and order.
Ø 2) Compare the facilities provided by the Ukrainian Academy of Law and by the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk.
Ø 3) Use the text to talk about your studies at the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk.
LIVING IN The library
Ø 1) Read the title of the text and predict what it will be about.
Many people go to the library. Most likely you go to the library yourself. But have you ever heard of anyone really living in a library?
In New York City, 250 people lived for a while in their neighborhood library. They slept on the floor in sleeping bags and on blankets. Did they want to be at home sleeping in their own beds? Yes, they did - it’s not fun sleeping on a cold floor.
Why did those people live in the library? The people stayed there to prove a point. The city had planned to close the library to save money. These 250 New Yorkers loved their library. They knew that the library couldn’t be closed as long as they were living there. When the city agreed to keep the library open, they went home.
What were all these people doing while they were staying in the library? Do you think that they were reading good books?
Ø 2) Arrange the sentences in the logical order:
a)The New York government decided to keep the library open for the public.
b)Everyone was happy.
c)New Yorkers loved their local library.
d)The New York government decided to close a library.
e)They protested against the government decision by living in the library.
Ø 3) Interview your neighbour:
a)Are you fond of reading?
b)What books do you prefer to read (poetry, drama, novels, funny stories, detective stories, thrillers, fantasy, fiction, scientific literature, or professional literature)?
c)Who are your favorite authors?
d)You sometimes read books in English, don’t you?
e)You have got a great collection of books at home, haven’t you?
f)How often do you go to the library?
g)Would you also protect your favorite library in the same way as New Yorkers did?
h)Would you read in English if you were in such a situation as described in the text?