SIT Mongolia ventures to Siberia
March 25th, 2019 | SIT Study Abroad
Quick: Think of Siberia.
Snowy?
Many of us think of Siberia as cold, big, and remote, but the reality is more complex. Starting this fall, SIT Mongolia students will get an unusual opportunity to experience the varied beauty of Russia鈥檚 Siberia region. The program will feature an excursion to the Lake Baikal area, just north of Mongolia. Students will visit the cities of Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk, and Lake Baikal itself 鈥 a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to the world鈥檚 only freshwater seal species.
The region is an unusual destination; Russia is not often on U.S. study abroad excursion lists. Ulziijargal Sanjaasuren, academic director for says students will get an up-close look at two cultures on different sides of vast Lake Baikal. What they鈥檒l see there ties into the program鈥檚 main themes of geopolitics, development, pastoralism, and natural resource management.
鈥淯lan-Ude is the capital of the Russian Buryatia Republic,鈥 Ulzii says. 鈥淭he Buryat are of Mongolian ancestry 鈥 lots of Mongolians have relatives there. Ulan-Ude offers a wonderful opportunity to get acquainted with a rich representation of Buryat ethnicity 鈥 there鈥檚 a lot more cultural richness there compared to the other side of Lake Baikal.鈥
The other side of Baikal is the site of Irkutsk, a large, more ethnically Russian city. 鈥淚rkutsk has a very different feel,鈥 Ulzii says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot more traditionally Russian. It鈥檚 more industrial. These days, it鈥檚 considered the informal capital of East Siberia, and it鈥檚 a tourism center with a distinct architecture 鈥 early on, Irkutsk was full of rich traders. They were getting very rich very fast, and they were building a lot.鈥 As a result, a walking tour of the old city is a key part of the program鈥檚 excursion.
Students will also visit some of SIT鈥檚 partners, a list that includes the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; East Siberian Institute of Culture; Baikal Institute of Natural Resource Management; and Irkutsk State University of Agriculture. There, they will hear lectures from Russian scholars and meet their Russian student peers.
鈥淲e鈥檒l be visiting people who are researching the management of the Lake Baikal area,鈥 Ulzii says. 鈥淲hat is particularly interesting is the ecology of trans-border regions. The Buryat people are herders 鈥 quality of pasture land becomes a common interest for Mongolia and Russia. We are very much dependent on regional management of natural resources. Russia in that sense is also our competitor.鈥
For example, Ulzii says, a recent contentious issue in the region is Mongolia鈥檚 desire to build hydroelectric plants along the Selenge River system, which flows into Russia鈥檚 Lake Baikal. The two countries have differing views of the efficacy and environmental impact of such a move, and Mongolia is seeking independence from Russian energy production.
Such conflicts are emblematic of Mongolia鈥檚 place in the region 鈥 part of what makes it an exciting destination for study abroad.
鈥淥ur neighbors Russia and China are superpowers with authoritarian systems. Since 1990, Mongolia has been democratic,鈥 Ulzii says. 鈥淲e are in the process of transforming as a nation. Everything is changing. We used to be a centrally planned, one-party system. Now we鈥檙e a multi-party system. But it鈥檚 not only our laws, the whole society and our economics are changing.鈥
The education system is now quite different, too, she explains. Before, Mongolians didn鈥檛 study the country鈥檚 13th- and 14th-century history 鈥 the era of the leader Genghis Khan. 鈥淪chools were not allowed to teach any foreign language except Russian,鈥 Ulzii says. 鈥淣ow, English is mandatory and Korean is growing in popularity.鈥
Ulzii says Mongolians 鈥渨ant to be known to the world.鈥 In part, she says, that鈥檚 connected to their unusual identity. 鈥淲e are descendants of nomadic people. Twenty-five percent of our population continues to live in a nomadic way.鈥
The region is also a key place to examine the effects of climate change. 鈥淢ongolia is one of the places where climate change is visible, even tangible. Our lecturers who talk about management and ecological issues quote that overall, the increase of temperature in Mongolia is three times more than the world average.鈥
With the addition of the Siberia excursion, SIT Mongolia offers a remarkable breadth of experience in one of the world鈥檚 most remote, but most interesting regions.