20 February 2019
February 20th, MGIMO held an Open Day for students interested in enrolling in the University’s undergraduate programs. MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov, the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Victor Kirillov and the Vice-Rector for General Affairs Artem Malgin gave speeches to applicants and their parents about the specificities of studying at MGIMO. They also took questions from the audience.
The event started with a film on the history of the University and the singing of the MGIMO anthem. Then Anatoly Torkunov welcomed the guests and started his speech by underlining the fact that 2019 is the year MGIMO celebrates its 75th anniversary. The Rector spoke about the history of the University, the fact that it existed as a faculty of Moscow State University and was created as a stand-alone entity during the Great Patriotic War as the Soviet leadership understood that the challenges of the post-war period would require more professional diplomats. There are currently eight thousand students studying at the Vernadsky campus and another fifteen hundred at MGIMO-Odintsovo. Average in size, MGIMO is however a high-ranking university, with some programs such as «Jurisprudence» and «Political Science and International Relations» making it into the top five universities in the world, according to QS ratings.
MGIMO drives its uniqueness from its ties with the Russian Foreign Ministry but the University also prepares students for brilliant careers in business, the mass media and international organizations. MGIMO’s joint programs with leading Russian and foreign universities are incredibly popular among students. Graduates of the University are highly sought after on the labour market as reflected by world rankings: MGIMO came first in the graduate employment rate in the first six months after graduation. Anatoly Torkunov spoke about the outstanding qualifications of MGIMO faculty and the extracurricular activities offered by the University. The Rector ended his speech by wishing students the best of luck for their examinations.
Then, the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Victor Kirillov spoke about the different ways of being admitted to MGIMO: the different Olympiads, the Pre-university training programs and the entrance exams. The Vice-Rector for General Affairs Artem Malgin remarked that the rules for admission to the two MGIMO campuses were identical and that the educational standards were the same. The only difference between the Vernadsky and the Odintsovo campuses is a slight difference between their programs.
— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version
