Montagno Andrade Mariuxi Elisabeth, a student from sunny Ecuador, completed her master's degree in the program "Social and Economic Psychology" and received diploma with honors!

For two years, Mariuksi actively comprehended the basics of psychological theory and practice, while simultaneously improving her knowledge of the Russian language and teaching Spanish to Russian students. For example, during the teaching and practical skills training of master's degree students in psychology at Baikal State University, a lesson was held with the participation of a representative of the Independent Association of Supervisors in the field of psychological counseling and psychotherapy, during which Mariuksi Elizabeth successfully gave a psychological consultation in Spanish. The student’s formed competencies in this discipline were assessed at a high level by the invited specialist. Master's students gained additional experience in building advisory discourse in different language environment.

Mariuksi successfully defended her master's thesis on the topic: “Subjective well-being of the individual in Ecuador and Russia.” While testing the hypothesis that the Russian population is more satisfied with life than the Ecuadorian population, no meaningful differences in satisfaction with life were found between the Russian and Ecuadorian populations. This suggests that, despite cultural and contextual differences between both countries, there are no significant differences in levels of subjective well-being.

“Foreign students are always a special pride of the Department of Sociology and Psychology of BSU, because in addition to a challenging program of study, they have to cope with the language barrier and the most complicated specific terminology of psychological science. As part of her final qualifying work, Mariuksi managed not only to determine the characteristics of the subjective well-being of the population of Russia and Ecuador, but also to establish a comprehensive program aimed at improving the subjective well-being and quality of life of young people in these countries,” notes the head of the department of sociology and psychology, Ekaterina Zimina.

According to the head of the international department, Elena Tikhonova, during her studies at the university, Mariuksi took an active part in career-oriented and promotion activities, for which she awarded Certificate of appreciation from the Baikal State University in 2023.

It is important to note that BSU is actively developing cooperation with such Latin American countries as: Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Cuba. In particular, this year, a graduate of the preparatory faculty, a citizen of the Republic of Chile, Christian Vega, is entering a similar master’s program.