2. Text a. My Institute and my student years.

Some of the most important years of your life will be spent pursuing a university degree. Your diploma is a passport to a better future, but it is only a symbol of what you will accomplish. The key elements of your university education are the process through which you learn, the experiences and knowledge you get. They will be with you for the rest of your life.

I study at Odessa Institute of Finance and international trade. The main task of our Institute is training of qualified specialists for financial system. During 60 years our Institute has trained a lot of specialists who work in different financial structures, in different fields of social-economic development of Ukraine and other countries. A lot of graduates occupy high ranks, working as specialists of financial, taxes, insurance, control inspection, treasury structures and enterprises. Among graduates there are scientists and lecturers of educational institutions.

Studying at our Institute gives a solid background in all spheres of knowledge and prepares for practical work. Nowadays more than 2000 students are studying there. Students study at full-time and correspondence departments. There are two Faculties: “Finance and credit”, “Audit and accounting”.

The Institute of Finance occupies two buildings in Chapayev Devision Street. It's a 5 floor educational complex, connected with the students’ hostel with the help of the covered passage. It also has a developed infrastructure like: a hostel, a dining room-cafe, an assembly hall, a gym, a training complex, an athletic field and a library. There are lecture halls and laboratories here which are equipped with modern computers and up-to-date equipment.

The lectures begin at 8.30 and finish at 13.20. After classes students usually go to the library and work in the reading hall on the ground floor. Sometimes they go to the computer center which is on the top floor. There we also have a canteen, a wardrobe and a time-table on the ground floor and a gym on the first floor. The director's office is on the first floor. On the second floor there is the teacher's room.

The academic program includes economics (macroeconomics and microeconomics), finances, statistics, accounting, marketing, management, computer knowledge as well as languages, philosophy, literature and physical training.

The main goal of Odessa Institute of Finance and International Trade is to help youth to find their place in today's hard life, to form the system of creative professional knowledge in the modern conditions of development of Ukraine's Economy and its integration into the world education.

3. Answer the questions:

1. What Institute do you study at?

2. What is the main goal of Odessa Institute of Finance and International Trade?

3. What kind of specialists does Odessa Institute of Finance and International Trade train?

4. How many students and graduates does it have nowadays?

5. How many buildings does the Institute occupy?

6. Where is the Institute situated?

7. How is it equipped?

8. What faculty do the students study at?

9. What subjects do the students study there?

10. What are the Faculties of the Institute?

11. When do the lectures begin?

12. Where do the students study after lessons?

13. Our Institute is situated far from the center of the city. Is it difficult to get to the Institute? How long does it take you to get here?

14. Why have you chosen the Odessa Institute of Finance and International Trade?

15. Why do some students live in the hostel? Is it easy for them to look after themselves, cooking and cleaning?

16. Why do students need to be very self- motivated in the first year?

17. What problems do many first-year students face?