Touchdown, Sydney Airport, 8.45 am Friday 19 February. For 12 Russian students from the University of Ekaterinburg, located just on the edge of Siberia, this is their chance to see what life is like on the other side of the world.

This unique opportunity is due to an exchange program being offered through the Faculty of Commerce on the Bathurst Campus of Charles Sturt University where the group of Russian students will be hosted for the next four weeks.

As part of this exchange program six CSU business students and marketing lecturer Troy Heffernan will return with the Russians for a four week visit in March.

“I am expecting this to be a real eye opener for both the Russians staying here experiencing University life in Australia and for myself and the CSU students during our stay in Russia,” Mr Heffernan said.

“There is so much that is different between our two cultures so this is a unique experience for both of us, from a cultural and business education perspective and I’m sure we will all get a lot out of it,” he said.

The Russian students will get a first hand look at life in a regional Australian community and on a university campus while visiting a number of regional industries. Part of the visit will also include trips to Sydney, Canberra, Mudgee and the Blue Mountains.

The idea of students travelling from such different cultures to the other side of the world, has inspired Mr Heffernan to film the experience which he intends to make into a documentary.

“I’m really playing on the, Australian university life compared to Siberian University life, theme but the beauty of this experiment is that we don’t really know what is going to happen both when the Russian students stay here or when we visit their country. I just want to make it as spontaneous as possible and see what happens.”