Irkutsk: Language and Environment

RS-100/200/300/400: Russian Language Study
Small, intensive classes focus on reading, writing, grammar, speaking, comprehension, and phonetics.
Academic hours: 300

Choose one of the following two tracks:

Individual Language Study
Use these individual hours to develop your language further. Focus on specific aspects, terminology, translation, literature, and more. These hours may be additionally used for individual courses in Buryat language and ethnology.
Academic hours: 60

The Environmental History of Russia
Overview the driving and problematic questions that have informed modern environmental science. Sample materialist, literary, and culturally-oriented contributions to Russia's nascent field of environmental history. Discuss abundant first-hand accounts and literature covering nomadic, agricultural, military, entrepreneurial, and industrial pursuits; monumental Soviet environmental transformations and catastrophes; and how the natural world has figured in shaping and representing identities in tsarist Russia, the USSR, and modern Russia.
Academic hours: 56

Other options

Students with upper intermediate (B2) and above may select one to three electives on a wide range of subjects including specialized language courses as well as history, ethnology and folklore, classic literature, modern literature, and comparative development. The second and third elective, if chosen, will replace an equal number of language study hours. Contact us for a full list of electives available.

RS-100/200/300/400 Russian Language Study
Small, intensive classes focus on reading, writing, grammar, speaking, comprehension, and phonetics.
Summer I (10 weeks): 200 hours; Summer I (8 weeks): 160 hours; Summer II (6 weeks): 120 hours.

SRAS students in Irkutsk take advantage of the region's wide cultural and educational opportunities to immerse themselves in not only Russian culture, but to better understand the environment, history, and indigenous cultures of Siberia. Many of these events are integral components of the coursework.

1. Weekend trip to Ulan Ude (Buryatia)
2. Day trip to Arshan (environment and economic development)
3. Olkhon Island (environment and economic development)
4. Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill (now abandoned, once one of the area's major polluters)
5. Irkutsk Dump (example of waste disposal in a major Russian regional center)
6. Irkutsk Walking Seminar: Local Landmarks and History
7. Decembrists’ Museum
8. Circumbaikal Railway (local history and nature; transport development)
9. Taltsy Museum of Wooden Architecture and Ethnography
10. Ice Breaker Museum (local history; transport development)
11. Baikal Ecological Center (NGO for environmental issues)
12. Botanical Garden

Programs shorter than a semester may include fewer events.

--Housing

Dorms: Most students are housed in Dormitory No. 10, which is about 45-60 minutes by bus or 30-45 minutes by marshrutka from the university (depending on traffic and time of day). While grocery stores and a local cafe or two will be nearby, the dorms are well outside the center.

Homestays are available for additional cost and are 15-50 minutes away. Hosts in Irkutsk are more likely than other locations in Russia to have more space, a family (rather than a single individual) living in the apartment, including pets and are more likely to spend more time with you. Homestays in Irkutsk are recommended.

Home stay supplemental costs in Irkutsk are based on posted program dates and include breakfast and supper. Additional days are $23 per day.

• Fall Semester: $2450
• Spring semester: $2600
• Summer I (10 weeks): $1650
• Summer I (8 weeks): $1330
• Summer II (6 weeks): $1000

--Location

Irkutsk is a city of about 600,000. Although a smaller Russian city, it is one of Siberia's major regional centers and a transport hub to Asian countries. For this reason, Asian languages are commonly learned in Irkutsk and English is relatively rare. Irkutsk is also home to a surprising number of universities, theatres, museums, and concerts attended by young people who come from all over Siberia seeking education and economic opportunity.

Siberia's great boreal forests are part of one of the world's largest biomes, one that accounts for nearly a third of the planet's forested area. It is also part of an important feedback loop driving global warming. As temperatures rise, the hydrological system alters, drying the forest and leaving it more susceptible to insect pests. Declining forest health leads to greater fire risk, releasing more carbon into the atmosphere and further driving temperatures up.

Irkutsk lies at the southern end of this boreal strip, near another great natural wonder, Lake Baikal. There, the massive confluence of three tectonic plates created a vast depression in the Earth's crust, which eventually swallowed the paths of several rivers. The resulting lake, with unique fluid dynamic properties due to its sheer depth, size, and purity, is also now home to several unique, endemic species.

With the Soviets' often reckless industrialization of the area, a major environmentalist movement formed in Irkutsk starting in 1960s. The intellectual heritage of this movement and the city can be traced back to both the free-thinking Decembrists and indigenous local tribes who considered their surrounding nature to be sacred.

Today, Irkutsk is a welcoming city, with residents still fascinated by foreign visitors, especially from the West, and this provides excellent opportunities for interaction and language development. Nearby Lake Baikal and the extraordinary ecosystems that surround it provide opportunities for outdoor recreation popular with young and old alike such as outdoor sport, hiking, dacha activities, and picnicking as well as a noticeably raised environmental conciseness.

Click here to read a short history of Irkutsk up to the present day from GeoHistory.
Click here to read more about what our students do while in Irkutsk.

SRAS supports focused research and projects, such as for a capstone project or graduate studies. Support may be in the form of advising sessions, assistance navigating archives or other resources. In many cases this is at no additional cost, but eligibility requires submission of a research or project proposal, and expectations are that output or a modified version/extract of it will be in a form available for publishing in the SRAS Family of Sites. Minimum stay of 8 weeks required.

Informal volunteer opportunities are also possible if you want to be more involved with your local community abroad. We can connect you with opportunities to pursue independently at no cost.

This program is hosted by Irkutsk State University which combines exceptionally strong departments in environmental studies and philology. Irkutsk State University will issue a transcript of your studies reflecting academic contact hours. This is generally transferable to your home institution, but you should always seek pre-approval before embarking on any study abroad program.

For more on transcripts, credit transfer, and other academic issues, click here.

SRAS Home and Abroad Scholars can recieve up to $10,000 toward fall and spring sessions of this program.

SRAS Challenge Grants are stackable grants that can provide up to $3,500 toward this program.

Other, non-SRAS funding sources may also be applicable to this program. SRAS provides a wide list of possible outside funding sources.

* Students who study for a full academic year in any location receive a $1000 discount applied to the second semester. For academic year students the cost breakdown for the second semester is $7,510 for education costs; $1,400 for housing (which includes dormitory stay during the interim period between semesters), $275 for insurance (which also covers the period between semesters), and there are no associated visa costs (your visa will simply be extended to cover the second semester). For academic year students, the total cost for the second semester is $9,185.
** Housing costs above are based on dormitories. See the "Housing" section above for the supplemental home stay cost. In that case, you would be provided breakfast and dinner, so your "meals not included" cost would be reduced by 70 percent.
*** Estimate based on r.t. US East Coast departure.

For more detail on living expenses in Irkutsk, click here.