Moscow Poly Personae - Irina Karimova: “Students` Successful Career and Achievements is What Inspires and Brings Me Joy”

Today, the “Moscow Poly Personae” rubrics is devoted to the senior lecturer at “Advertising and Public Relations in Media Industry” and “Enterprise Economics” departments under the faculty of economics and management, as well as the “InfoCognitive Technologies” department under IT faculty. Irina is also a laureate of the “Golden Spindle” national award in the ‘Journalist, Editor, Publisher’, mentor at “Skolkovo” technopark, member of the “Sociology of Digital Society” Russian community of sociologists.

Irina has been working at Moscow Poly since 2010.

“Back then, our University didn`t exist under one common brand. I was invited to work at the Institute of Marketing Communications MSUEE (that later joined Moscow Poly consortium) as a practicing specialist – teach some economic and humanitarian disciplines. By then, I`d been working as a marketing director over 10 tens, developing my own consulting business in the spheres of advertising and PR, we had interesting projects in creative entrepreneurship, fashion, logistics, so there was enough practical experience already. In addition, I too studied a lot even during work, always improved my qualification because modern knowledge and skills improve the quality of managerial decisions and competitiveness at the level market”, - Irina Karimova says.

After that, there was the merging process as a result of which several educational organizations became one. That`s when Irina understood that she was truly interested in working at a big University with a clear strategy and understanding of their growth trajectory.

“Moscow Poly as a common brand has managed to bring together all the best that these universities that formed the consortium had and strengthen its positions from the viewpoint of prestige, international development and recognition by employers”, - Irina notes.

What teaching gives you?

Teaching doesn`t only take a good knowledge of the discipline but also an ability to get that knowledge into someone. It`s also a great stimulus for further professional growth. That`s why I always try to find time for scientific activity: take in scientific-practical conferences, including international ones, keep in touch with my counterparts from other educational organizations and companies, take part in events devoted to developing scientific-technical and entrepreneurship in our country. But most importantly I do love my job and appreciate the opportunity to pass knowledge to the students – them building a successful career and their professional achievements is what inspires and brings me joy!

Do you spot interest in your profession? What are modern students like?

Our students are really talented, smart and persistent! I like their positive attitude to the studies. And I can draw a parallel to what my teachers once told me when I was acquiring my first degree – the university gives you a chance to study, provides you with a necessary volume of learning materials to acquire the profession. However, someone uses this chance to 120%, whereas some only takes half. You decide which side you`re on.

So I`d like to advice my students to use the period of their education as an opportunity to get as much knowledge as possible: learn from your teachers, read, participate in creative contests and scientific-practical student conferences. All this allows us, apart from acquiring professional competencies, to polish the so-called “soft skills” – communication, public speaking, defend and back up one`s opinion, practically use all knowledge.

Are there any professional secrets?

I think the most important thing is to love your discipline, be able to engage student and show how theory can successfully be implemented in practice. In the course of the disciplines that I teach I give many examples both from my personal experience and my colleagues` experience from various fields. It`s always interesting to that large companies can also make mistakes, discuss what could have been done in this or that situation and how knowledge of history helps to prevent mistakes.

Another interesting experience for me is teaching master disciplines in English. We have students from all over the world so, when we talk about practical examples related to advertising and PR or economics, or marketing – we can actually see that these rules work for and can be used on different markets.

What qualities should teachers possess to your mind?

On the one hand, professional approach – the ability to explain the materials and show how it should be done in practice. And on the other hand, we need all these qualities that are useful in any managerial activity, that`s discipline, time management, creativity and leadership qualities, ability to listen and support, and explain if something seems difficult.