4 December 2019
December 4th, the French author, academician, diplomat Daniel Rondeau was awarded the title of Honorary Doctor of MGIMO during a solemn ceremony.
The event was attended by the French Ambassador to Russia Sylvie Bermann, the Head of Rossotrudnichestvo E. Mitrofanova, French diplomats, the management of the University and students specializing in the French culture and language.
Daniel Rondeau is a French writer, editor, journalist and diplomat, who has authored thirty books of different genres: autobiographical books, novels, urban portraits and analytical texts on literature and history.
MGIMO Rector A. Torkunov welcomed the guest, noting that «today we offer the diploma of Honorary Doctor to one of the most famous French writers, who has a very diverse skillset, like people during the Renaissance: Mr Rondeau is indeed a famous author, an outstanding journalist, Ambassador of France and traveller».
A. Torkunov also described the close relationship the University entertains with France, mentioning MGIMO’s active participation in the Trianon Dialogue. The Rector then announced the decision of the Academic Council of the University to confer upon Daniel Rondeau the title of «Honorary Doctor of MGIMO», all the while handing the guest a gown and diploma. D. Rondeau then stepped up to give the traditional doctoral lecture to the audience.
D. Rondeau expressed his gratitude at receiving the honorary degree from a prestigious University and related to the audience his life experience, specifying what motivated him to become an author and the prominent people who influenced him. One of those was A. Solzhenitsyn, with whom D. Rondeau met when he was working as a journalist in the United States. The guest calls himself «the son of books and vineyards».
Talking to the students studying to become diplomats and international journalists, the writer noted that these professions «open windows into the world».
D. Rondeau visited MGIMO in the framework of his trip to Moscow to attend the international fair of intellectual literature non/ fiction21, where he presented his recent novel «Mechanics of Chaos», which was awarded in 2017 the Grand Prix of the French Academy.
— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version
