THE EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY AT ST PETERSBURG

THE EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY AT ST PETERSBURG (EUSP) is a non-governmental institution of higher education offering advanced post-graduate programs in the humanities and social sciences.

Basing on both the best national traditions and the greatest Western scholarly achievements, the EUSP performs its mission of promoting Russian science and education.

The University aims at the following:
· Development and support of, reforming and improving new forms of post-graduate education, with flexible and multifarious educational models.
· Bridging the gap between national teaching standards in higher education, on the one hand, and modern methods of research on subjects of academic concern, on the other.

The University creates a uniform intellectual environment, in which research is an unalienable part of education.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

· Since 1997, an INTERNATIONAL MASTER'S PROGRAM IN RUSSIAN STUDIES (IMARS) provides graduates from Western universities with educational opportunities to deepen their professional knowledge about Russia. Lectures and seminares are taught in English by the EUSP faculty and visiting professors.

· Since 1995, the University offers classes within the OPEN GRADUATE COURSES intended to broaden scholarly horizon of attendees, to introduce them to recent achievements in the social sciences and the history of arts. These courses are designed primarily for senior and post-graduate students, researchers and museum curators.

The University runs training seminars and lectures on
· ethnic tolerance,
· archival activities,
· social research in education,
· as well as SUMMER SCHOOLS IN ART HISTORY.

THREE-YEAR POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM

The University offers postgraduate programs through its Departments: Art history, Economics, Ethnology, History, and Political sciences and sociology.
Specialized units have been established within the University to assist education and research: the Library, the Computer Science Center, the Language Center, the Publishing Department, and the Archives Training Center.
The initial phase of the program consist of MA-level courses in conformity with professional training standards developed by British and American universities. Duration of MA program varies from two years in economics to eighteen months in art history and to one year in other disciplines. English and information technology are also taught at this stage.

Testing and grading system is based on the ECTS credit system adopted in the European Union.
The second phase of the postgraduate program focuses on research activities and writing a dissertation for the Candidate-of-Science degree in a particular discipline.
Upon completion of the program, the student is eligible for the defence of his/her Candidate-of-Science dissertation before an Academic Board of a partner research or teaching institution depending on the particular discipline.
Annual admission is up to 70 students. Studies at the University involve a tuition fee; the EUSP awards merit-based stipends and scholarships. All financial terms are determined annually by the EUSP Academic Council and are written in individual contracts signed by the students and the EUSP.

EXCHANGE PROGRAMS

The European University at St Petersburg is a co-ordinator of the TEMPUS/TACIS project aimed at promoting regional research it politics. The project is financed by the European Commission and includes an annual student and teacher exchange between the EUSP and partner universities during a three-year period from 2000 to 2002. The partner universities are as follows: Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Helsinki.

In 2000, the Finnish Center of International Mobility (CIMO) launched a program of student exchange between Russian and Finnish schools of higher education, the FIRST. In this program, the EUSP is a partner of the University of Tampere.

Every year, the Institute of Central- and East- European Studies (ICEES, Glasgow University, Great Britain) and the European University at St Petersburg organize a training program for young Russian researchers in social sciences, the DALGLISH.

RESEARCH PROGRAMS

Owing to financial support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a number of university research grants are awarded annually on competitive basis.

Supported by the KONE corporation, the University of Helsinki holds annual competitions for young scholars graduating from the EUSP in ethnology, political sciences, sociology, and history. The winners are awarded research scholarships to enable them to continue their work.

Since 1999, the EUSP has been running a program supported by the Spencer Foundation in Chicago, USA. The program "Promoting Social Studies of Education in Russia" aims at financial support of young scholars, promotion of new trends in research, establishment of a network in the field of social studies of education. Within the framework of the project, an All-Russia open competition for projects on history, sociology, ethnology, economics of education is held annually.

SOURCES OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT

St Petersburg Government and City Legislative Assembly granted the University a lease on a building in the historical centre of the city and allocated recurrent funds for its maintenance. The University is largely financed by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Ford Foundation, and the International Higher Education Support Programme/Open Society Institute (The Soros Foundation). Educational and research work at the EUSP is supported financially by the TACIS/TEMPUS organisation in the European Union, the INTAS international association, the Spencer Foundation, USA, the Tissen Foundation, Germany, and the Russian Foundation for the Humanities.

COntact Information:
European University at St Petersburg
3 Gagarinskaya st.
St Petersburg, 191187
Russia
Phone: +7 (812) 275 5137
Fax: +7 (812) 275 5139
e-mail: rectorat@eu.spb.ru

European University at St Petersburg

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