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Welcome from the Dean

Dear Friend,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you on behalf of The MGIMO School of Government and International Affairs. The School was established in 2013 to manage Russia’s first undergraduate program with full instruction in the English language. Winston Churchill once referred to Russia as a «riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma». At our School, we aim to at least unwrap the enigma, so that our international students can solve it for themselves during their course of study with help from our top-notch faculty.

Over the eight years since its inauguration, the School has been expanding and beefing up its international profile. It is now unique in Russia and beyond for its multidisciplinary curriculum, unparalleled training in foreign languages, student diversity, and top-notch faculty with advanced internationally recognized degrees and extensive experience of teaching and publishing in English. At our School you will get a 360-degree perspective on world politics combined with a deep and professional understanding of Russia, its politics and policies. You will be trained to proficiency in two foreign languages aside from English, learn to analyze modern great power relations and international migration, climate change and global economic crises, international financial flows and marketing strategies, while making full use of the exciting business and personal growth opportunities that Russia has to offer.

Since 2017, we have started two international collaborations, including a double degree program with a British university, and launched a new Bachelor of Science program in International Business and Finance. In 2021, we renamed our flagship program Government, International Politics and Law to reflect the minor in International Law that we are now offering our politics students. We now recruit globally and enroll around 80 students each year into our four undergraduate degree programs. We are hiring bright new faculty capable of teaching innovative courses at the intersection of international politics and law, economics and technology, sociology and psychology, leadership and entrepreneurship, international finance and conflict resolution, negotiation and corporate management. In no other undergraduate or graduate school specializing in social sciences, humanities, or business education across the world will you be able to receive 16 academic hours of foreign-language training per week.

The School is uniquely positioned to be an integral part of MGIMO — one of Russia’s best universities that has trained many generations of national and global leaders in politics and business. At MGIMO, you will join a powerful network of peers who will remain at the cutting edge of public policy, markets, society, and research for decades after completing their formal education. MGIMO has an outstanding post-Cold War record of preparing Russian and international students for the difficult missions of improving the quality of public administration and social services, strengthening markets, protecting the environment, and promoting peace in local communities and on the global scale. MGIMO draws upon the resources of the vibrant city of Moscow and has a global reach, with over 60,000 alumni in more than 70 countries and educational partners from London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing, New York, and Washington.

Today, our School offers three Bachelor programs taught and administered entirely in English:

Browse through the School website to learn about academics and student life at SGIA, its faculty and alumni careers. Whatever your career aspirations and vision for the future are, we will be glad to help you to achieve your goals.

Dean MGIMO SGIA