International Education Projects | Valeri Chukhlomin, PhD

The School of International Business at Omsk State University, Russia (1991-2004)

I initiated this project in 1991 in response to the new challenges and opportunities resulting from the collapse of the “iron curtain”. I worked there as Founding Dean, Department Chair and Director of International Programs since its inception till my departure in 2004.

The School of International Business at Omsk State University was founded in 1993 and became an independent school in 1998. The structure and philosophy of the School was very unique in Siberia and probably in Russia. The curriculum was designed to combine Russian and western models to develop Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Business Administration that meet international standards. Despite high enrollment demand, the School used to admit only a relatively small number of students per year in an effort to maintain high standards for both students and faculty. The School was recognized as a center of excellence for the region and as a gateway to many international opportunities for the students. The School of International Business as a part of Omsk State University was fully accredited by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation (ME). Under my tenure in 1993-2004 and long after my departure, in 2005-2020, the program was highly successful in preparing business specialists for Russian companies entering the global market and foreign corporations in Russia. Regretfully, the project was abruptly discontinued by the university in 2020.

The Australia – Russia Educational Center at Omsk State University and the Sydney Office (1999-2005)

In 1999, I initiated and led the creation of a unique educational program named “The Russian University in Australia Exchange program (RUAP)”.

The RUAP was aimed at preparing highly qualified specialists in the fields of international business and information technology. The program operated in a unique way where Siberian students studying full time at their home institution were able to travel to Australia to undertake English language training and complete professional courses at local colleges in Sydney while continuing studies at home via remote learning. As a result, the students were able to obtain two qualifications at the same time; in addition, many of them gained valuable knowledge and skills by part-time work and exposure to international business practices.

International Distance Learning (IDL) with Russian Universities at SUNY ESC (1997 – 2014)

In 1997, Dr. Richard Bonnabeau and I started a joint degree program where students from Omsk State University in Russia were able to complete a U.S. business degree via international distance learning.

Read more about this project and how it is related to SUNY ESC.

In 2004, two more Russian universities, one in Tomsk and another one in Novosibirsk, joined the program. On the American side, Empire State College was joined by Broome Community College in Binghamton, NY.

Since my transition to ESC in 2006, I expanded the network of participating Russian universities to include universities in Tyumen, Barnaul, Sochi, and Moscow. To get familiar with the U.S. online environment, students (and oftentimes professors) from Russian universities were able to take a bilingual bridging course “International e-Learning Skills”. The outcomes of the project were reported at the U.S.-Russia conference at Bard College in 2014.

Read more about this project. Also, there are several detailed articles about this project published in Russia.

Developing Online Learning Program at the European University of Humanities in Vilnius, Lithuania (2008-2010)

In 2008-2010, SUNY Center for Online International Learning (COIL) was assisting the European University of Humanities (EHU), also known as “the university in exile”, to establish its online program to serve students in Belarus. My role in this project was a consultant and a trainer. I several times travelled to Vilnius, Lithuania, to conduct master-classes and workshops, developed and taught professional development courses “Teaching Online” and “Developing Online Courses”, and published a series of articles and a customized textbook.

SUNY in China (Feasibility Study), 2011-2013

This project was initiated by SUNY Global to investigate a possible, massive-scale U.S.-China international distance learning project. My role was to make an initial investigation and working in a close collaboration with the Chinese counterpart to prepare a detailed feasibility study. When working on the project, I traveled to Beijing and co-authored a report outlining the rationale and directions for the project. While the report received high marks by the reviewers and was several times discussed in 2012-2013, the proposal was eventually declined.

Shi, David and Chukhlomin, Valeri, Establishing a Networked Learning Platform for the USBU* China Global Partnership: A Feasibility Study (August 21, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3634764

The iMOOC Project (2014 – 2020)

Building on a series of projects in international distance learning and working in collaboration with a group of ESC faculty, in 2014 I initiated the development of a massive open online course called “Mastering American e-Learning”.

Mastering Remote Work and Online Study in U.S. in the Post-COVID Era (since 2020)

In 2020, I have refurbished the successful iMOOC project to serve the needs of many international students and professionals who found themselves in a position to study and work in the U.S. remotely due the coronavirus. The revised course is available on Coursera.