USSR: Undergraduate Spring Semester in Russia

• Contemporary Russian Politics

• The Political Economy of the Post-Soviet Transition

• The History of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union

• The Russian Art from the Icon to Avant-Garde

• Media and Popular Culture in Russia Today

European University at St. Petersburg

As a students at European University at St. Petersburg you can enjoy the advatages of the richness of cultural experience in Saint-Petersburg combined with professional training in Russian and Eurasian studies together with:
- The history of the Russian Empire, Soviet Union and Eurasia
- The Russian revolution and contemporary politics
- Society and culture, the arts, media and popular culture
- Energy and security issues
- St. Petersburg’s magnificent architecture and museums
- White winter and the white nights of May-June
- Vibrant metropolitan culture

European University at St. Petersburg is quite unique and more high-end an institution even among the most renowned universities in the former Soviet Union. It brings together international state of the art research and education in social sciences and humanities, and the best traditions of Russian scholarship. Being one of the very few independent postgraduate colleges in Russia, it has a tutorial style of unparalleled quality for those who really want to advance knowledge in history, political science, anthropology, sociology, art history and economics. European University at St. Petersburg’s specialty is the only in Russia fully-fledged English-language Masters program for international students in social sciences and humanities » IMARES. One of the best Russian and Eurasian studies MA programs, it is complemented by other international programs taught in English including the undergraduate semester abroad in Russian studies » RSSA and » summer schools.

Five Important Points about the European University at St. Petersburg

1. The European University at St. Petersburg has greater independence from the Russian governmental bureaucracy than most other Russian universities. This independence is important for both intellectual and political reasons. Universities in Russia were traditionally under the control of the government, to the extent of questions of the content of instruction and research, political ideology, and administration.

2. At the EUSP a higher proportion of faculty have degrees from prominent Western universities than at any other university in Russia. 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) and Helsinki University (Finland) among others.

3. The EUSP has a commitment 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.

4. The European University at St. Petersburg encourages mobility but combats the brain drain. Rather than promoting the departure of graduate students to the West, EUSP invites western students to come and study in Russia. The International MA in Russian and Eurasian Studies » IMARES is the ONLY permanent program at the graduate level in Russia that offers degrees in sociology, political science and cultural studies to students from Europe, North America and other parts of the world. Both international and Russian students enjoy the advantages of studying in a truly international setting.

5. The EUSP is a decisive agent of innovation and change, introducing and disseminating new standards and practices in the Russian educational system. The mission of the University is to satisfy societal needs in raising and expanding professional qualification of specialists and in developing of their creative and scholarly potential on the basis of achievements of Russian and international experience and cooperation.