Two Soviet exchange students at NIU are serving as consultants to American business.

As part of the second half of an exchange program between the SBI and the Moscow Forest Technical Institute (MFTI), Mikhail Abramov and Alexander Raskatov have been enrolled in NIU’s College of Business since Jan. 12.

Abramov and Raskatov chose to participate in the exchange program because of their work with students and their positions at MFTI. Abramov, graduate of the MFTI in 1987 with an economics degree, is now chairman of the Management Information Systems Laboratory.

Raskatov earned a degree in 1989 as an engineer-economist and is now an assistant lecturer in economics at MFTI.

Abramov said he’s compared a lot of programs and believes this program is the best. “We force ourselves to adapt and learn a lot of things,” he added.

SBI Director Dan Lemanski said “we set out to make this experience change their lives.”

While in the United States, Abramov and Raskatov are studying American economic and business practices and serving as consultants to two enterprises. Abramov said he absorbed much of the American culture and learned about American business.

When he returns to Russia, Abramov said he plans to make his classes more “interactive” like those he attends here. Abramov and Rastakov say their primary goal is establishing a SBI-like structure within the Institute in order to help further the Soviet Union’s move toward a free-market system.

“I hope this is not my last time here,” he said. “This has been a very useful experience. I had a tough time in the beginning trying to understand. Some words don’t make sense when translated literally and this is a very serious problem.”

However, Abramov said he has learned a lot about what America is really like compared to the way it is portrayed in Russia: “There is an awful difference between what you read and see.”