Dr. Maria Frolova
SquirrLE School — Founder

Building bridges between education and employment, across cultures.

PhD in Economics, associate professor, and author of the International Team Internship Program (ITIP). Twenty-five years of turning cross-cultural classrooms into working teams — from automobile plants to Eurasian trade routes.

Time, contacts and information are valuable resources. We work to unleash your talents and save your time.

— Dr. Maria Frolova, SquirrLE School founder
01

About me

Degree
PhD in Economics, Associate Professor · 25+ years of experience in teaching and research
Research interests
Communication studies, evolution of media forms and cognitive development, social and economic studies, educational technologies, responsible AI, human–technology interaction
Founded
ITIP — International Team Internship Program, author and developer (since 2015) · SquirrLE School founder, director, methodologist (2018–present)
Affiliations
Member of the International Statistical Institute (the Netherlands), 2013–2024 · Secretary of the ISI Central EurAsia Outreach Committee, 2013–2021 · World Bank consultant, 2019–2020
Publishing
Author of 8 educational programs, 6 books, chief editor of 1 conference proceedings, and 31 articles
Languages
English (C2) · German (B1)
Contact
mfrolova.ru@gmail.com
Hobbies
Ballet dancing, painting
02

My story

2015

ITIP — Automobile industry

The founding cohort of the International Team Internship Program.

2016
winter

ITIP — Automobile industry

Second cohort, winter intake.

2016
summer

ITIP — Automobile industry

Summer intake continuing the automobile-sector partnership track.

2017

ITIP — Local & global entrepreneurship

Expanded into education and restaurant sectors.

2018

ITIP — Local & global entrepreneurship

Sea plane industry, mobile applications, financial sector, food sector.

2023

STP — Creative economy and enterprise: a Eurasian alliance

The Study Tour Program launches — designed for the new Eurasian leaders of today and tomorrow. India cohort.

2024

STP — China: culture, history and present

Perception and communication methods, explored through the STP China cohort.

22
Global & local partner companies, 2015–2018
109
ITIP graduates — 60 foreign (India, Slovenia), 49 Russian
13
Graduates of Communication support for business activity, 2022–2024
31
Published articles

Selected recognition

2015

French embassy round-table, Togliatti

Initiated the project and secured financing from the French embassy for a round-table on staffing global automobile companies in the Samara region — 10 key speakers, 200+ participants, opened by French ambassador to Russia Jean-Maurice Ripert.

2016

Immochan Design & Business Project Contest

Led student teams to 2nd and 3rd place in the contest organised by Immochan.

2017

Valeo Innovation Challenge — semi-finalists

A team from Togliatti Academy of Management and Kazan Federal University reached the semi-final of Valeo's international engineering and business contest — selected from 1,628 teams by 70 Valeo experts and scientists; 24 semi-finalist teams from 13 countries and 23 universities.

03

Events

Boundless ideas, global connections — recent conferences, symposiums and workshops.

Alliance Literary Festival 2025 (ALF 4.0: The Asian Century)

Feb 13–15, 2025
Alliance University, Bangalore, India

One of India's premier literary and cultural celebrations, bringing together writers, thinkers and performers from 25+ countries for panels on economic power, cultural identity, technology and diplomacy.

Co-organizing session: Global trends of educational system development and communication

allianceliteraryfestival.com ↗

COMPSTAT 2024

Aug 27–30, 2024
Justus-Liebig-Universität, Giessen, Germany

The 26th International Conference on Computational Statistics, bringing together researchers and practitioners on recent developments in computational statistics and methodology for data analysis.

Speaker

compstat2024.org ↗

Tecnológico de Monterrey, Querétaro Campus

May 23, 2024
Querétaro, Mexico

Workshop — International business communication in cross-cultural context

tec.mx/es/queretaro ↗

INTED — Sharing the Passion for Learning

Mar 4–6, 2024
Valencia, Spain

Annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference for academics and teaching professionals from around the world.

Speaker

iated.org/archive/inted2024 ↗

04

Publications

6 books and 31 articles, spanning higher-education statistics, cross-cultural management, and international team collaboration — 2006 to present.

Study books, books, monographs, conference proceedings

2013
2015
2015
2016
2017
2018

Articles (selected, chronological)

2006
2008
2009
2009
2010
2010
2011
2011
2013
2014
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2016
2016
2016
2016
2017
2019
2021
2022
2023
2024
2024
05

CV

Curriculum vitae — August 2026.

Education

2026
present

CELTA Cambridge course

Global certification for teaching English as a foreign language, awarded by Cambridge Assessment English.

2022–24

Master of Economics

Analytics and forecasting in megalopolis management. Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, Russia.

2017

Associate Professor diploma

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

2006–13

PhD in Economics

Statistics department, Samara State University of Economics, Samara, Russia.

1997–2002

Specialist degree with Honours

Foreign languages department, Samara State Pedagogical University, Samara, Russia.

Work experience

2018
present

SquirrLE School — founder, director, methodologist

2024
present

Guest professor

Alliance University, Bangalore, India.

2021–23

International partnership development consultant

Alliance University, Bangalore, India.

2013–21

Secretary, ISI Central EurAsia Outreach Committee

International Statistical Institute, the Netherlands.

2019–20

World Bank expert

2013–18

Vice-Rector for International Cooperation

Associate Professor, Management department, Togliatti Academy of Management, Togliatti, Russia.

2012–13

Lecturer

Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education.

2002–12

Lecturer, interpreter, project manager, deputy head of International Office

Samara State University of Economics, Samara, Russia.

Teaching & lecture courses

Evolution of Media · Global Economy · International business communication in cross-cultural context · Basic Statistics · Conflict management · Developing individual learning pathway