Kuttubek Rakhmanberdiev: "Exchange semester abroad taught me to think more globally"

August 10, 2015

Kuttubek Rakhmanberdiev is a junior student of Business Administration department at AUCA. Last spring semester he was an exchange student at Yeditepe University in Istanbul. Kuttubek shares his impressions about the semester abroad, and tells us about this unique experience.

"Originally, I am from Talas city. During my high school years, I used to dream to travel abroad. I knew that AUCA offers its students not only the quality education, but also different exchange programs, which allow them to gain more experience abroad. It gave me big motivation to study hard and search for different scholarship programs in order to study at AUCA. I found out that US-CAEF Scholarship Program sponsors Central Asian students to study at AUCA in Business Administration and Economics departments. I applied to the program immediately and became one of the lucky fellows.

After one year of studying at AUCA, I decided to apply for an exchange program. However, I was confused about which country to choose for exchange. Therefore, I talked with junior and senior students, who went abroad with AUCA exchange program before. They told me about their city, university and courses. After analyzing, I decided to go to Istanbul, one of the biggest and most developed cities in the world. Moreover, Yeditepe University is one of the leading and prestigious universities in Istanbul. It has huge and astonishing campus with all needed facilities. Of course, I learned about them in advance by watching videos and photos. Therefore, I did my best to leave more impressions to the selection committee than my competitors. The application process was not so difficult. We had to submit one motivational essay, two recommendation letters from AUCA professors, TOEFL and copy of transcript.

I got amazing impressions from Istanbul and Yeditepe University. Also, I convinced that Turkish people are hospitable and very patriotic nation. They are extremely proud of their history, culture and language. Even if most of them know several languages, they prefer to speak in Turkish, their native language. My Turkish friends and groupmates helped and supported me all the time, while I was studying Turkish language. In addition, most of my professors were graduates of top US and Turkish Business Schools. The business classes and seminars were not just theoretical, but also accompanied by relative and interesting life stories. We visited global companies such as Bridgestone, P&G and Garanti Bankasi, in order to get more knowledge about the business processes in big companies.

This exchange semester taught me to think more globally and wider. I was amazed when I heard that Turkey is going to be one of the most developed 10 countries by the 2023. I started to search for information about the economic and political development of Turkey and other countries as well. In addition, I was interested in local companies and innovations. I strongly believe that we also can do something that the world has never seen or heard before.

Before exchange, I was thinking about creating my own business or working at big companies. After visiting global companies in Istanbul, I fully ensured that I want to work at international big corporations. I want to work with smart, experienced and interesting people and be part of some big positive changes in the world.

While studying abroad I really appreciated AUCA, because it teaches its students to be open-minded, hardworking and social. By using these qualities, I could learn much about Turkish people and their culture. It was not difficult for me to communicate with local and international students. Moreover, AUCA is very good place for networking as it gathers all talented and motivated students from different geographical regions to one place, where they can collaborate with each other."

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