European University at Saint Petersburg

[EduCativ]

Founded in 1994 with the active support of the city of St. Petersburg, the European University began operating as an elite graduate school in the social sciences and humanities in 1996. From its inception, the mission of EUSP has been to meet the needs of Russian social development by training a new generation of teachers and scholars in the best Russian and Western traditions. The European University is one of only a few non-state universities fully qualified by the Ministry of Education to award advanced graduate degrees. Over some 20 years, EUSP has gained an international reputation for its faculty's superb scholarship and the training of Russia's best and brightest graduate students at the highest international levels. Like the best private universities outside Russia, the EUSP's independence is both intellectual and political. With a significant proportion of faculty with degrees from leading western institutions, and close relations with Stanford, Michigan, Cambridge University, Georgetown, Harvard, Helsinki University, and the University of California, Berkeley, of Michigan, Ann Arbor Cambridge University (UK) Helsinki University (Finland), and the European University Institute in Florence, EUSP has a strong commitment to the integration of Russian scholarship with scholarship in Europe and America. With Russia's historical distance from the West in intellectual and social terms, this has been a fundamentally important position, one that encourages mobility and encourages graduates to pursue their teaching and scholarly careers at home. For non-Russians, the International MA in Russian Studies is the only permanent program at the graduate level in Russia that offers degrees in sociology, political science, and cultural studies to students from North America, Europe, and Asia.
The University is an essential agent of innovation and change in other ways as well. As the Russian government itself has recognized, its democratic governance system serves as a model for other Russian institutions striving for international recognition. EUSP was an initiator of private endowment funding that has become a standard in other universities and cultural institutions. Although entirely independent of state control, the University often hosts actual government figures and Russian and international scholars for seminars and lectures on social importance issues. EUSP faculty and staff are also regularly invited as expert consultants by the Russian Federation Public Chamber, the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Ministry of Education and Science.
The University is also actively involved with the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Petersburg Dialogue Forum, and the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum. Partly for this reason, partly because our graduates are among Russia's best, many not only hold positions in leading universities but occupy key posts in government and non-governmental organizations and leading Russian and international companies. More than forty percent of those who have finished our core educational program have successfully defended their dissertations.
The University's mission is to satisfy societal needs in raising and expanding the professional qualification of specialists and developing their creative and scholarly potential based on Russian and international experience and cooperation. Due to its superlative professionalism and unique scholarly potential, EUSP has acquired a reputation as one of the country's most dynamic and modern educational institutions.
EUSP has greater independence from the Russian governmental bureaucracy than most other Russian universities. This independence is essential for both intellectual and political reasons. Universities in Russia were traditionally under the government's control, to the extent of questions of the content of instruction and research, political ideology, and administration. In EUSP, a high proportion of faculty have degrees from prominent Western universities. The University employs Russians with PhDs from such recognized schools as the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Cambridge University (UK), Helsinki University (Finland), a.o. EUSP commits to the integration of Russian scholarship with scholarship in Europe and America. Against the background of Russian scholarship's continuing isolation from the West, this is a fundamentally important position. EUSP encourages mobility but combats the brain drain. Rather than promoting graduate students' departure to the West, EUSP invites Western students to come and study in Russia. The International MA in Russian Studies is the ONLY permanent program at the graduate level in Russia that offers degrees in sociology, political science, and cultural studies to students from North America, Europe, and Asia (about 50 students annually). Both international and Russian students enjoy the advantages of studying in a truly international setting. USP is a decisive agent of innovation and change, introducing and disseminating new standards and practices in the Russian educational system.
EUSP's educational programs are popular amongst talented graduates of Russian universities, who currently hail from fifty-four Russian regions and amongst graduates of foreign universities (mainly in Western Europe and North America). For these students, EUSP offers special international programs taught entirely in English. EUSP's teaching faculty is staffed by well-known academics who have achieved significant results and recognition in their fields. Many of them received their PhDs from the best universities in Europe and the US and have experience teaching in foreign universities.

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