Student Exchange

Student Exchange

The Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences offers a warm welcome to all of its exchange students. You can spend up to two semesters in MSSES as part of your studies if you are currently enrolled in one of MSSES’s partner universities and your programme requirements allow for it. Exchange students can take Russian and English-taught courses (the full list of English-taught courses is available below).

Applying for an Exchange Programme

Follow these steps to apply for an exchange semester in MSSES:

1. If you wish to study in MSSES as an exchange student, you need to be nominated for an exchange by your home university. Please check if your university has a cooperation agreement with MSSES and contact the international office of your home university for more information on how to apply for an exchange.

Selection criteria are established by your home university.

You can find general information on the criteria for the application and admission to the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences as an exchange student in our Factsheet:

MSSES Exchange Factsheet 2022-2023  

If for some reason, you cannot or do not want to be nominated, you can apply for a fee-based programme Semester in Moscow and join MSSES as a visiting student/free-mover.

After your home university submits your nomination to MSSES, the International Department (global@universitas.ru) will provide you with the information on the application process by email.

List of current Exchange Partners:

• Coventry University (UK)
• The University of Tartu (Estonia)
• The Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland)

2. Prerequisite for applying is an exchange nomination (Nomination Form) from your home university sent by the academic mobility coordinator via email to global@universitas.ru by 15 May if you are coming for the Autumn Semester or a full academic year and by 1 November if you are coming for the Spring Semester.

3. Fill in the application form and your study plan and send them to global@universitas.ru with the required documents listed below.

• Application Form
• Transcript of Records. Signed and stamped by your home university coordinator and submitted in English only. If your home university does not issue the official transcript in English, then please provide a translation to English together with the official transcript
• Copy of the identification document (passport, ID, double-page spread, no watermarks and/or drawings are allowed, your passport must be valid for at least 18 months from the proposed start date of the visa)
• 1 picture 30mm*40mm. Your face must take up 70% to 80% of the photo, the head must be centred in the image, you must be looking directly at the camera and showing your full face. If you normally wear glasses, your eyes should be clearly visible in the photo. The photo must have a sharp focus and a good colour balance. The photo must be coloured with a white or off-white background that is not patterned or busy
• Study plan / Learning Agreement. If you already have a learning agreement from your home university, you can submit it instead of the Study Plan. The plan doesn’t have to be signed at the moment of application
• Certificate of language proficiency (not applicable for native speakers and students of the universities where English or Russian is the language of instruction)

Please note that the documents need to be in English! Make sure that the email address you provide is correct and in use, as we will be sending a lot of important information to you via email.

4. Respect the deadlines for submitting your application and documents:
- 1 June for the Autumn Semester and Academic Year
- 20 November for the Spring Semester

5. We will check your documents and give feedback if any changes are required. After your documents are checked and your study plan is approved in your academic unit, you will receive the official invitation letter for a Russian visa.
It can take up to 45 days after the application deadline before you receive the invitation letter, so please be patient! And please do not send your signed learning agreement from your home university before you receive the acceptance letter from us.

6. If you need accommodation in the dormitory, please mention it in the Application Form in advance. Places in rooms of the International Dormitory for 2-6 students will be offered to you. It takes about 20-30 minutes to get to the main campus by bus/metro.

7. If you feel that you need a peer supporter (a student buddy) to guide you and help you in the process of settling in, you should apply for one 2 weeks before the planned date of arrival to Moscow. You can find more information about student buddies and the application here (currently unavailable).

8. All exchange students attending the autumn semester may apply for free-of-charge Russian Language Courses (6 hours per week, all levels). This opportunity is currently unavailable for the spring semester.

Important Dates

Autumn semester:
Nomination deadline: 15 May
Students’ documents submission deadline: 1 June
Virtual Exchange nomination deadline: 15 July

Spring semester:
Nomination deadline: 1 November
Students’ documents submission deadline: 20 November
Virtual Exchange nomination deadline: 15 December

Academic Calendar

The academic year in MSSES is divided into 2 semesters

• Autumn semester, September – January (Graduate programmes start in October)
• Spring semester, February - July

Schedule 
Daily classes are held in double periods of two academic hours:
1 double period = 2 academic hours = 2*40 minutes

Classes Time (BSc)
9.00 - 10.30
10.40 - 12.10
12.20 - 13.50
14.00 - 15.30
15.40 - 17.10
17.20 - 18.50

Classes Time (MSc/MA)  
Mon-Fri:
19.00 - 20.30
20.40 - 22.10
Sat:
10.40 - 12.10
12.20 - 13.50

English-taught Courses 2022-2023

You can view the courses here.

Conditions for joining courses

• Each course has a limited number of places available for exchange students
• Joining each course must be approved by the sending university for further credit transfer (except free-movers)
• Undergoing a preliminary online interview is required before joining any courses
• The course can be cancelled or postponed and the course’s schedule can be altered in case the professor’s plans or curriculum change
• Classes marked with “*” are conducted in a remote format via ZOOM / Inner system. You can only apply to join these courses to participate in the virtual (remote) mobility programme without arriving in Moscow

Visa Support

After students submit their applications and documents for the exchange program, MSSES applies for individual invitations for Russian student visas. It takes up to 45 calendar days to receive an invitation!

Upon receiving an invitation from MSSES, you will need to apply for a Russian student visa in the consular section of the Russian embassy in your country or a commercial visa centre. At your local Consulate, you need to clarify in advance what the full package of documents includes and what other conditions there are for submitting documents for a Russian student visa as well as what the terms of the receipt and the cost of the consular fee are.

With our invitation, you will receive a single-entry visa valid for 90 days, which will be extended until the end of your exchange program after you arrive in Moscow. Be prepared to stay in Russia without leaving for the first 3 months until you get a multi visa.

When you arrive in Moscow, you will fill out a migration card, which must be saved and presented to MSSES for registration. The migration card should be presented at passport control when you leave. Always keep the original migration card with you.

Procedure:
1. Obtain a single-entry Russian visa
2. Submit your documents and migration card for registration within 3 days after you arrive in Moscow (scanned copies)
3. Submit your documents for the extension of a single-entry visa to a multiple-entry one 45 days before the expiration of the first visa

Medical insurance

All international students are required to have medical insurance while studying in MSSES. Please acquire medical insurance before you arrive in Russia. We provide foreign students with medical insurance from the Insurance Company “Polis-Garant” (Programme 23), which makes it possible to use the services of a medical centre located on the territory of our partner university – the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA).

Insurance for 3 months – 4,400 rubles.
Insurance for 6 months – 7,400 rubles.
Insurance for 12 months – 10,400 rubles.

Housing

Exchange students are offered places in the International Dormitory located 20-30 minutes away from the main campus (via bus/metro). The cost ranges from $100 to $200 per month, depending on the number of students residing in the room. It can be paid by card, cash, or bank transfer upon arrival for 1 month or for the whole semester in advance.

Most of the visiting students prefer to stay in the city in rented apartments or hostels located closer to the campus on Gazetny Lane. The cost of living starts from 600 rubles per day, depending on the type of accommodation and location.

Orientation Webinars

We organise a series of online webinars for visiting exchange students to prepare them for an exchange programme in MSSES. The schedule of webinars will be available here after the Rector’s order to start accepting exchange students is released.