The international media club "World Without Borders" was presented at Derzhavin University as part of the first regional student media festival, "TSUNAMI." It is a fully-fledged media lab, diplomatic coworking space, and social platform, fostering a new reality of mutual understanding and collaborative creativity. The club's multi-platform strategy is to showcase Russia in real time, and its key operating principles are continuity and versatility.
The club is comprised of international students interested in the media sphere. Their mentors are Russian students with media expertise. These students typically major in Journalism and Advertising and Public Relations, but there are exceptions: Daniil Gerasimov, a student at the Institute of Medicine and Health Protection, is a professional photographer and videographer.
"World Without Borders" operates at all key venues. In addition to the students' strong VKontakte community, content is adapted and published on other social networks, as well as on popular social platforms in their home countries.
The club's media specialists produce at least 3-5 publications per week across various platforms. This means that a global audience sees Russia through a vibrant, dynamic, and continuous stream of vibrant events.
"We don't invent beauty; we find it in real student life and convey it unfiltered. Our camera operators and bloggers work on 10-15 major events monthly: from international university festivals (Festival of Cultures, National Cuisine Days) and city festivals (City Day, Maslenitsa festivities) to scientific conferences, sports tournaments, and intimate poetry evenings. Each event is a new story, a new opportunity to demonstrate how rich, diverse, and full of opportunities for self-realization life here is," says Maria Perova, head of the international media club "World Without Borders." In addition to core competencies, the club provides specific, in-demand skills: digital strategy, SMM, videography fundamentals, screenwriting, and public speaking. A graduate of the club is not just a specialist, but a communicative, creative, and media-literate professional.
"World Without Borders" successfully runs thematic sections: "An Outside View" (interviews about first impressions), "Top Talent Talks" (about talented international university students), "Vkusno" (food videos), and "Academic Travelogue" (stories about the university). More than 50 active participants from 20 countries have completed the club's training and now assist new students by filming orientation guides in their languages.
The combined audience of all the club's social media projects has exceeded 50,000 unique users from the CIS, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. This is a lively, engaged audience. The story of an Egyptian graduate who, thanks to the skills he gained from the club, started a popular bilingual medical blog, or of an Indian student whose report on the Russian winter garnered tens of thousands of views in her home country, is the best advertisement for Russian education.
"We show how a foreign student not only studies here, but also creates projects, makes friends, and becomes a global citizen with a unique Russian experience," notes Mohammed El Attari, a student at the Institute of Medicine and Health Preservation and a member of the "World Without Borders" international club.
For Derzhavin University, the "World Without Borders" international media club is a key tool for developing a world-class international campus and fostering a positive image of Russia on the international stage. For students, it offers a creative workshop, a career office, and a family all in one, as well as a unique chance to make a mark in any corner of the globe.
