Head of Postgraduate Studies: Dr Leonid Petrov

Leonid Petrov is a senior lecturer and head of postgraduate studies here at ICMS. He graduated from the Department of Oriental Studies, St.Petersburg National University in Russia, where he majored in Korean History and Language. Between 1996 and 2002, Dr Petrov worked on his doctoral thesis, “Socio-economic School and the Formation of North Korean Official Historiography”, at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Dr Petrov’s academic interests include North and South Korea (DPRK and ROK); Traditional, Modern and Contemporary Asian Societies and Cultures; USSR, Russia, Commonwealth of Independent States, Central Asia, Immigration, Border Control, and Human Rights. He has been teaching Cross-Cultural Management, Strategic Intelligence, International Tourism and other business-related postgraduate courses at ICMS since 2013. The insight he brings to these subjects, especially the internationally focused and cross-cultural subjects, has been met with great enthusiasm from his students who appreciate Dr Petrov’s experience and expertise.

Dr Petrov says, “Postgraduate students are a pleasure to teach; they have first hand experience and just need to adjust this knowledge to theory. In undergraduate studies, the discussion is usually about the learned material, but in postgraduate there is more discussion around why things happen. There is more fine-tuning of students’ understanding and delving into nuances.”

Dr Petrov also enjoys teaching at ICMS because of its strong emphasis on comprehensive professional experience.

As in the case for all ICMS undergraduate programs, work integrated learning is a key component of postgraduate study. For masters, this takes the form of an intensive industry based research project. All master’s students must complete 600 hours of work related to their studies and submit a rigorous research report. This may be based on either a real-world problem identified by an ICMS industry partner, or an in-depth research assignment that allows the student to apply the skills or knowledge they’ve learnt during postgraduate studies.

An industry experienced ICMS supervisor oversees every student’s placement and project, guiding them in their development. Master’s graduates then leave ICMS with industry connections and experience so they are ready to move directly into management roles. The work-integrated learning is also partof the thinking behind each class. Dr Petrov explains, “In other universities there are obvious gaps between practical application and learning. So students study, graduate and then find themselves unemployed; it’s very disenchanting and depressing. At ICMS, however, every subject we teach has a purpose. We explain why we are studying that particular subject; why the student is there,” he says.

The ICMS masters program began in 2014 and, last year, nine students were the first to complete this innovate postgraduate program.

For more information about ICMS postgraduate programs click here.