Lomonosov Moscow State University and international academic links

Lomonosov Moscow State University was founded in 1755. It is named after Mikhail Lomonosov, an outstanding Russian scientist, who greatly contributed to the establishment of the university in Moscow. The University also claims to be the oldest in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Moscow State University is the largest of the classical research universities within the former USSR. It has 5, 000 academic staff and 4, 500 researchers, about 7 000 postgraduate students and more than 40 000 undergraduates including 5, 000 international students from almost 100 countries. Moscow State University consists of 39 faculties, over 350 departments, and 14 research institutes. According to Federal Law, from November 2009, Moscow State University was granted a specific legal framework for its activities within the national educational context. The law recognizes the uniqueness of MSU as a leading classical university and entitles it to wider academic freedom. The law provides the University with the possibility of setting its own educational standards. Lomonosov Moscow State University is well-known for its strong natural sciences tradition: the 39 faculties cover practically all areas of research, besides, 11 (of Russian 18) Nobel Prize winners and 6 (of Russian 8) Fields medalists were former students or academics at the University.

In the modern world there is a necessity of development and consolidation international links between world scientific centers. Lomonosov Moscow State University has many international agreements with European universities of student exchanges, the organisation of joint educational projects and the promotion of research cooperation. Main International Exchange Partners of Moscow University are State University of New York (the USA), University of Geneva (Switzerland), University of Tokyo (Japan), a lot of Universities in Germany and in France, and many others.

Moreover there is Center for International Education. Its main aim is to prepare foreign learners for studying at Lomonosov Moscow State University and other Russian high schools. It was founded at the end of 1940s when youth from Albania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, arrived to study at Moscow State University, they needed of additional learning of the Russian language. And today Center for International Education gained a strong position and recognition in the international world of education.

It is not the only branch of international academic links, which exists in the University. Every student of it has an opportunity to participate in academic exchange programs, in case they fail to find a necessary course at home University. Besides, there are a lot of summer schools and scientific conferences, which attract a great number of students and scientists from all over the world. Undoubtedly all this actions are very important for development the Russian science and raising the level of education of students.

 

Finance and economics

Nowadays practically everyone adult has a credit card. They appeared recently and became very popular. I’d like to tell about the history of the system of credit card. Many people think of credit cards as a modern day convenience, but the history of the earliest credit cards actually dates back to the beginning of 20^th century.

As far back as the late 1800s, consumers and merchants exchanged goods through the concept of credit. Plastic payments as we know them today became a way of life in about half a century. Credit cards were not always been made of plastic. There have been credit tokens made from metal coins, metal plates, paper, and now mostly plastic cards.

At the beginning of 20^th century, oil companies and department stories issued their own cards entitled " Credit Cards and Payment Efficiency." Such cards were accepted only at the business that issued the card and in limited locations. While modern credit cards are mainly used for convenience, these predecessor cards were developed as a means of creating customer loyalty and improving customer service.

 The first bank card, named " Charg-It, " was introduced in 1946 by John Biggins, a banker in Brooklyn. When a customer used it for a purchase, the bill was forwarded to Biggins' bank. The bank reimbursed the merchant and obtained payment from the customer.  But there were some catches: Purchases could only be made locally, and Charg-It cardholders had to have an account at Biggins' bank. In 1951, the first bank credit card appeared in New York's Franklin National Bank for loan customers. It also could be used only by the bank's account holders.

 The Diners Club Card was the next step in credit cards. According to a representative from Diners Club, the story began in 1949 when a man had a business dinner in New York. When the bill arrived, Frank realized he'd forgotten his wallet. He managed to find his way out of the pickle, but he decided there should be an alternative to cash. Thus the Diners Club credit card was invented to pay restaurant bills. A customer could eat without cash at any restaurant that would accept Diners' Club credit cards. The Diners Club card was at first technically a charge card rather than a credit card since the customer had to repay the entire amount when billed by Diners Club.

Credit cards were first promoted to traveling salesmen for use on the road. By the early 1960s, more companies offered credit cards, advertising them as a time-saving device rather than a form of credit.

Speaking about the future, while the plastic card has been the standard for a half century, recent developments show alternative forms of payment which become more popular, from online services such as PayPal to credit card key fobs to chips that can be implanted into cell phones or other devices. But from my point of view, credit cards aren’t going anywhere any time soon, also cash would be still used for many years.

 

Man in the modern world

In the last century there was a time of unprecedented technical and scientific achievements. We can't imagine our life today without telephone, television, cars or computers. Nowadays modern industry is fulfilled with the help of robots which replaced man in some hard or dangerous labor and run by computers. Machines provide people most of necessities. In the 20th century, many infectious diseases have been conquered through vaccines and antibiotics. The advance of medical knowledge enables people to perform the most difficult operations with the help of modern equipment and to keep people alive with the help of implanted organs. It is necessary to notice that as a result of the advance of medical service average life expectancy in Europe has increased from 50 years to about 75 years.

Nevertheless in spite of the all advantage of the modern world there are a lot of problems today: terrorism, overpopulation, poverty, water scarcity. But I’d like to tell about the problem of consumerism in the 21^st century. Economists tell us that natural resources are scarce but that human wishes are unlimited. What are the main humans’ needs? Food, health care, education, the opportunity to express themselves, and leisure. At the same time mass marketing and advertising makes people believe that they can't brush their teeth without the help of an electronic gadget. In other words people sometimes buy different things, which they don’t need.

Consumerism is an integral part of the 21st century lifestyle. Every person today is a consumer. Everyone buys anything practically every day. Shopping gives people a sense of choice and power which is often absent from the rest of their life. Certainly, consumerism has some advantages. For example, with the power of new technology, the consumer has the power to influence on the companies by choosing the products of high quality or by protecting his consumer’s rights.

But on the other hand consumerism in its most basic form is the creation of a system in which each of us do not need to go out and kill his food, make his clothing or build his house. In the modern world we could go to a store or to a company and buy what is needed. New products make more and more tasks ever easier, minimizing the amount of intelligence or even physical activity we must expend to get something. We have become quite lazy since our ability to obtain what we need has been easily, and we make an effort to obtain what we want. We need a little money to get food and clothes, and then we want to buy the latest gadget or toy to produce a sense of happiness. Many of us take up uninteresting jobs in order to make more money to buy more wanted items.  As a result of consumer society people often couldn’t do anything with their own hands. We are accustomed to buy anything we need, and the major part of society doesn’t create or produce anything. So we become more and more depended and disabled to deal with difficult situations.

 

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