Ilya Galkin

Ilya Galkin, 2nd year Russian and History

“My name is Ilya Galkin, I am a second-year student at UCL SSEES studying Russian and History. I started at UCL last year and have thoroughly enjoyed my experience and am very much looking forward to this upcoming year. I first learnt about SSEES through a virtual open day I attended in 2020 during lockdown and since then my respect, recognition and pride keeps growing.

I'm very proud to be a SSEES ambassador which gives me the opportunity to help others to have a similar experience. SSEES provides the platform for its students like myself to succeed as it teaches perspectives from all over Eastern Europe, an area of the world which is growing in importance.

Although my course is Russian and History I learn about the history and culture of countries that I’d never really thought about before starting at UCL. For example I have studied the history of countries such as Hungary, and this year I will be learning about Yugoslavia while also continuing my studies of Russian language and culture. SSEES also teaches skills that are critical for employment such as critical reasoning and analytical skills, the ability to construct an argument as well as many others that are very important in the modern world.