A Perpetual Student

I have already written many times that I am now in the final semester of my master’s programme at RANEPA’s Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service. I only have two subjects left to complete and pass. For some reason, they decided to teach them in a super-intensive format: one month instead of a whole semester. By 28 September, I have to pass a credit assessment in one subject, and on 9 October, an exam in the other.

Then, by March, I will need to write my thesis, which is already 70–80% complete. Over the previous four semesters, I have accumulated articles, term papers, reports from summer research placements and so on. I just need to bring it all together and tidy it up—I could do that in a weekend.

This week, entirely by chance, I joined a group for a six-week course in B2B sales theory and practice for the IT sector at Skolkovo, which runs until November (see the photo). I have never studied sales; I have always done it by instinct, so this is incredibly interesting. Besides, it does not overlap with my studies at RANEPA: classes there are in the evenings, while Skolkovo classes are during the day.

But that will end at the beginning of November. What then?

Then, as if by magic, half an hour ago I received an email from RANEPA. Since I am a RANEPA student, I can take, entirely free of charge—of course, we have all already paid for it with our taxes—courses from a long list of continuing education and additional professional education programmes under the Priority 2030 strategic academic leadership programme. There are more than a hundred programmes in total.

Formally, I will remain a RANEPA student until the middle of next March. Each programme lasts about a month. That gives me November, December, January (possibly), February and March (also possibly).

I am sitting here, scrolling through the list of programmes and thinking…