International partnership

International partnership

The International Partnership of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES) is the key factor that allows the university to enter the global educational space. Internationalisation of the educational and academic process is one of the School’s main priorities and a strategically important direction for its development.

Shaninka is currently working on:

• establishing partnerships with the world’s leading academic universities;
• increasing the students’ and the staff’s short-term academic mobility;
• creating joint educational programmes with leading foreign universities;
• getting included in international rankings of the world’s best universities;
• expanding the educational programmes and products to attract foreign students;
• becoming a part of international professional associations and alliances.

MSSES actively participates in international scientific programmes and exhibitions and promotes short-term international student exchanges and internships as well as the teaching and research staff’s participation in international scientific conferences. The School admits foreign students to various educational programmes, including programmes on Russian as a foreign language. In 2019, Shaninka welcomed over 60 foreign students and trainees.

International Partners

• The University of Manchester (UK)
• Coventry University (UK)
• The University of Salford (UK)
• The University of Turin (Italy)
• The Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland)
• The Technische Universität Dresden (Germany)
• Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences (Armenia)
• Zhengzhou University (China)
• Dalian University (China)
• Brigham Young University (USA)
• The Lauder Institute, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (USA)
• Maastricht University (Netherlands)
• CIES: Comparative and International Education Society (USA)
• NEPC: Network of Education Policy Centers (Croatia)

Joint projects

British undergraduate programmes

The project for developing British Undergraduate Programmes in Moscow was initiated in 2016 in collaboration with the University of Manchester (UK). Two MSSES programmes got validated, and their graduates started receiving Bachelor’s degrees from one of the best universities in the world.

In 2019, the School signed the first validation agreement with Coventry University (UK), which stated that from then on, undergraduate students who successfully complete MSSES programmes would be granted a second diploma.

Joint PhD programmes

Since 2018, Shaninka has been developing joint PhD programmes, where each student writes a thesis under the supervision of two research associates, one from MSSES and one from a foreign partner university. We consider our PhD programme in law developed in collaboration with the University of Turin (Italy) our most successful joint programme available today. It allows the students to spend part of their term in Moscow and another part in Italy.

Preparatory year for learning Russian

We’ve developed an additional educational programme ‘Russian as a foreign language for beginners’ in collaboration with RANEPA’s Institute for Social Sciences. It’s a two-year course that allows students to advance from beginner level to level B1 or B2, which is required to apply for undergraduate or graduate Russian-taught programmes in RANEPA’s Institute for Social Sciences. In 2019, Shaninka welcomed 47 students from China, some of whom have dramatically improved their language level in just a year and were able to enrol in the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration and take quota places or places with a significant discount for education fee after the first year.

Group Russian courses

Every year, Shaninka welcomes over 50 students from various countries who take a short-term or a long-term course in Russian as a foreign language. MSSES develops individual programmes for each partner university. In particular, the School creates modules within the educational programmes in foreign universities, such as a ‘Russian Language, Culture, and Literature’ module for philology students and a ‘Political Debates’ module for political science students. Based on the partner university’s request, Shaninka actualises or creates unique programmes lasting from 1 to 13 weeks, including Summer and Winter Schools in online and offline formats.

Partnership options

Shaninka is interested in forming various kinds of partnerships with foreign universities and organisations.
MSSES is currently working on advancing the students’ and staff’s mobility, creating joint educational programmes and double-degree programmes, increasing the number of online and offline courses in English, teaching courses and holding Summer Schools on Russian as a foreign language as well as other disciplines, and developing joint academic researches and projects.

Double-degree programme

Students can receive a diploma from a foreign university with a degree from MSSES by completing part of the programme in a partner university. It means that students of double-degree programmes will spend 1 or 2 years at the university that provides the second diploma.

Validation partnership

Students can obtain the MSSES diploma by completing a programme in our partner university. It means that they can receive the MSSES diploma in their country or the country that would be more convenient for them to study in than Russia. The difference between this option and the double-degree programme is that in this case, you won’t have to spend any time studying in Russia – you can get your degree without leaving your country.

Continued education

Students of the partner university may complete their educational programmes in MSSES in Russia. It means that students who complete the first two years of an undergraduate programme in their university can continue their studies in MSSES for another two years and receive a Russian Bachelor’s degree diploma (4-year programme).